Future Development
by MartyCessna
Summary: R.J. makes a startling discovery that could mean the end of the happy life in the middle of the suburbs. Another threat surfaces in the form of revenge. With friendship and life at stake, can the animals rise to the challenge?
1. Prologue

I don't own any characters that aren't mine, and I don't pretend to. Anyone you don't recognize from the movie, however, are my ideas and mine alone. Thank you.

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Prologue

_Rain pelted the ground like rock falling from the darkness. The clouds were swollen with moisture. Here and there, a streak of lightning flashed, slicing through the storm-blackened clouds and flickering through the branches of tall trees. _

_Below the violent sky lay a park in the middle of a forest. Wind blew garbage off a lone picnic table; the remains of a meal left by some careless human visitors. A garbage can stood nearby, nearly brimming with discarded food containers. _

_There was no one around. It was all his. _

R.J. smiled in his sleep. This was the kind of dream he enjoyed!

_The raccoon made a beeline for the garbage can. Around the outside lay all kinds of goodies. He checked again for any fellow scavengers. Satisfied that no one was going to try and fight over his find, R.J. reached for a small plastic bag and scooped out crumbs and bits of what tasted like trail mix. _

_R.J. smiled again, snatching an old Spuddies can off the ground to inspect its contents. It was half full! _

_"Wow, good haul tonight!" R.J. muttered happily. It was rare when he could find this much food in one place. Ignoring a slight, pesky feeling of foreboding, R.J. dove into the garbage can. The can contained even more food…scraps and treasures beyond the raccoon's wildest dreams! Too bad it _was_ a dream. Ahh, but it was a good one; might as well enjoy it!_

_A rustling sound caused R.J. to look up from the old sandwich he'd found. "That's strange," thought R.J., "I shouldn't be able to hear anything over this storm!" He popped his head up through the garbage and tried to see where the sound had come from. _

_Some nearby bushes moved. _

_"Who's there?" R.J. demanded uncertainly. _

_There was no answer. _

_He watched nothing happen for a while. Just as he was about to return to his feast, the bushes rustled again. _

_"Huh?" R.J. frowned, "Whoever you are, you can come on out. There's plenty for everyone here…hello?"_

_The continued absence of a reply was starting to really bother R.J._

_"Hello?" R.J. repeated, "Hey, you in the bush…"_

_His words were cut short as something caught his eye. There was something on the road that went past the park. Two small furry things were sitting there, eating a soggy pizza that was lying across the center line. _

_"No!" R.J. gasped, inexplicably feeling his stomach sink. _

_Then everything happened fast. Something huge hurtled out of the bushes and galloped toward the small furry things. Images appeared, swirling around the raccoon in the garbage can. Lights flashed, faces went by. There was someone yelling something, yelling his name! A truck…with lettering on the side that he couldn't make out…rain, food, fur, tires, yelling, wet…_

_Then a van upside-down in a house. Vincent appeared by a vending machine. "Don't think I've forgotten what you did to me, R.J. I'll get you for this. And your little friends, too!" the bear growled. He stalked forward menacingly. R.J. saw his new family in front of the bear. Vincent attacked, sending the other animals sprawling against the rocks of a cliff. R.J. leapt from the garbage can in time to see Vincent turn. He fell towards the claws and teeth…_

"Ahh!" yelled R.J.

"Ahh!" said a bunch of other voices.

R.J. blinked in surprise, then remembered where he was. He was in a log with his new family. He looked over at the eleven sleepy, annoyed animals he was sharing the log with.

"Sorry guys," R.J. apologized, a little embarrassed, "Nightmare."

The others groaned good-naturedly and turned back over. They all fell asleep quickly.

R.J. closed his eyes, halfway worried that he might return to the nightmare where it left off. Instead of letting himself think about it, he began to imagine happy thoughts. Giant piles of food. Friends. Family. The animals around him having a good time. Smiling, he settled into his leaf-nest. He took one last peek at the sleeping mammals and reptile before falling into a nightmare-free sleep.


	2. Chapter 1: The Green Spot

Chapter One: The Green Spot

"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine…" R.J said. Eyes closed, he leaned farther into the tree trunk. The raccoon smiled, still hearing the rustling behind him of animals rushing to find hiding places.

It was a beautiful spring day. The sun shone. The flowers were blooming; the grass was lush and wet with dew. Dragonflies flitted here and there. Birds sang. The trees that had lost their leaves the previous fall were now green and full and leafy. Uncle R.J. was playing hide-and seek with the three porcupine kids and Hammy the squirrel while everyone else took their time waking up.

"Twenty-nine and a half…"he stalled, trying to give them time to get hidden. He opened one eye and started to turn his head.

"No peeking!" came a voice from behind him.

R.J. quickly put his face back in the bark, "Okay, twenty-nine and two-thirds…"

Suddenly, a strange noise shattered the stillness of the morning. It was a loud banging, crashing sound that R.J. found alarming. "Thirty!" he cried, turning around and dashing past the bushes where he knew the three young porcupines were hiding, "Stay hidden, guys. I'll be right back."

So of course, Hammy and the three porcupines, Spike, Quillo, and Bucky, scampered out of their hiding places to follow him at a distance.

Snatching his blue golf bag from the ground, R.J. scrambled up a tree. He dug a pair of binoculars out of the bag and began searching the area for the source of the sound. It didn't take long for him to notice the big yellow machines that appeared to be bulldozers. R.J. blinked and focused the binoculars. No doubt about it, those were definitely bulldozers.

They were moving at the edge of the "woods", knocking down brush and leveling the soil! Humans with chainsaws were starting to work on trees in that area.

R.J.'s eyes went wide. He set down the binoculars and dug through the bag again, this time producing a map labeled "El Rancho Camelot." He looked at the small green spot that represented the "woods" in the middle of the suburban sprawl of El Rancho Camelot Estates. That green spot also happened to be his home. The spot was circled in red. Frowning, the raccoon read the words that were printed on the map, with an arrow pointing to the circle.

"Future development!" R.J. gasped. "Oh, shoot! I should have seen this coming," he lamented.

"What's going on?" someone on the ground called up to him.

R.J. looked down to see a turtle, two opossums, five porcupines, a skunk, a cat, and a squirrel looking curiously back.

R.J. forced a smile, "Nothing's going on!"

The turtle stared at him skeptically, "Come on, R.J. We know you better than that."

R.J. dropped the smile. He sighed and slid down the tree trunk on his claws. The raccoon hopped to the ground and held out the map, "Okay. This is what's going on." He pointed to the red circle and the two unfortunate words.

Verne, the turtle, took the map and looked at it skeptically, "This is us, right?" he pointed to the green spot.

R.J. nodded, "That's where we live, yeah."

Heather, one of the opossums, made a face, "'Future Development'! What does _that _mean?"

"It means," said R.J. by way of explanation, "that everything that is over there…"he gestured toward the hedge that separated the "woods" from the human houses of El Rancho Camelot, "is going to come over here. The humans are bringing in their big machines to knock down all the trees and flatten the land. In fact, they've already started."

As if to accentuate R.J.'s statement, a large crash resonated through the small forest as a not-so-far-off tree fell to the ground. A collective gasp rose from the group.

The squirrel piped up energetically, "But they can't do that! Can they do that? Cause we were here first and it's not fair!"

R.J. shook his head, "The humans don't care about that, Hammy. They even do this to each other. They just want to build more places for more humans to live." He looked sadly at Verne, "As Verne said before, they don't really want us around."

"So what you're saying," Verne asked, "is that the humans are going to move onto our land, destroy our home, and there's nothing we can do about it?"

"Uh," R.J. started.

"That's like, just not fair!" Heather huffed.

Her father, Ozzie, agreed, "Humans and their monstrosities are encroaching upon our freedom, and indeed, our very survival!"

"Jeepers! Surely there's something we can do!" Penny, one of the adult porcupines cried.

"Like what?" Stella, the skunk, snorted, "Humans aren't so hard to beat, but those machines they've got are _huge_!"

"And there's so many of them compared to so few of us!" added Lou, the other adult porcupine.

Tiger, the Persian cat, looked around the group, "But together, you are strong."

"_We _are strong." Stella corrected him. Then she looked thoughtful, "Tiger's right. With all of us together, we're a good team."

Hammy bounced, "Just like on Ocean's Eleven! We each have special talents and we use them to make successful raids on the humans by coordinating our strengths to make a whole that's stronger than any of us alone!"

Heather shook her head, "Hammy, you watch way too much T.V."

"No, he's got a point," R.J. said, his eyes seeming to be looking at something far away, "You all do."

Verne eyed the raccoon; "You've got that look in your eyes."

"What look?" R.J. snapped into the picture of innocence

"The look," Verne replied, "that means you're about to get us all into a lot of trouble."

R.J. just smiled, "How's the tail?"

Verne muttered, "It's been tingling since I found out about this." he waved a hand in the direction of the map.

Ozzie stood straight, "There comes a time when every creature, even an opossum, must stand and fight for what they believe in and care about!"

"Dad," Heather said, "that's so brave!"

Tiger cleared his throat, "I would assist you, of course."

Stella gasped, "You'd do that?"

"For you, my love," Tiger stared lovingly at her, "I'd do anything." He kissed Stella's paw. She almost blushed through her black fur.

"We'll certainly do our part." Lou said. His wife and kids nodded.

"Me too! Me too!" Hammy nodded, bouncing from one foot to the other.

R.J. grinned, then turned to his turtle friend, "Well, Verne, what do you think?"

Verne glanced around at his mismatched family, then at the woods they called home. "Well, I guess my tail can't get any worse than it already is…" he tried to smile at R.J., "What did you have in mind?"

"Sabotage," was R.J.'s confident reply. At his friends' blank looks, he elaborated, "The humans need their machines to destroy the woods, so if we break the machines, they can't do their dirty work!"

"Ohh," said the others.

R.J. continued, "We'll need to use subterfuge, espionage, and distraction in order to pull this one off."

"Oh, well," Penny said brightly, "We're good at all that already!"

"Yes you are!" R.J. agreed, "and I'm counting on those well-developed skills of yours for this plan to succeed. Now…" R.J. looked lost for a moment, then straightened and glanced around, "First, we'll need surveillance. You guys should break into teams and head for the edges of the woods. We'll need to know exactly what we're up against." He reached into his bag and pulled out pieces of paper, stubby pencils, and half-melted crayons, which he distributed amongst the group. "Write down what you see, and meet back at the log when you're done. Dis-missed!"

"Yes sir!" Heather joked as the group began dispersing into the trees. Hammy saluted and followed the others. Verne, however, stayed behind. R.J. could tell that the turtle was uncomfortable with the situation.

"What's wrong?" R.J. asked, already sensing the answer.

Verne crossed his arms, "You're making this up as you go along, aren't you?" he asked suspiciously.

"No," R.J. said, "Well, I mean, not really…"

"I was afraid so." Verne said disappointedly, "'What's wrong' is that we are about to do battle with the humans, and we don't even have a real plan in place!"

R.J. shrugged, "We'll go in, cut a few wires on their equipment, and get out. Piece of cake."

Verne shook his head, "I don't think you realize just how big a piece it actually is! This is way bigger than those little raids we were doing! There's a lot more at stake if something goes wrong! And do you really think a few cut wires are going to stop the humans?"

"Look, Verne," R.J. said comfortingly, "I know you're concerned, and believe me, I understand. But you know I care about these guys! And I can tell this is important to them. Do you think I'd do it if I didn't think we had a chance?"

"I guess not." Verne sighed.

"Relax," R.J. said, "Things are going to work out." He smiled and added, "I can feel it in my tail."

The next day, R.J. had everyone gathered around a handmade miniature of their home. A hedge of woven grass surrounded an odd-shaped piece of green construction paper. A toy truck sat just inside the woven grass barrier, a small cardboard box containing razors sat near it, and three cardboard boxes with windows cut into them had been placed outside the "hedge".

"Okay," R.J. said. He pointed to the truck, "We have located the humans' point of attack," he pointed to the razor box, "as well as their munitions bunker," he pointed to the three boxes, "and their living quarters."

"Their what, what, and what?" Penny looked confused. So did the others.

R.J. tried again, pointing to each object in turn, "This is the bulldozer, this is where they store the chainsaws, and this is where they sleep."

"Ohh," said the animals.

"Now, " R.J. continued, "The humans are generally found in the vicinity of these three places, but they could be anywhere."

Verne nodded, "As I understand it, our mission is to shut down those machines. I have to be honest with you; I don't think this will stop the humans. But maybe it'll buy us some time to get a better plan together."

"So, Verne," Stella asked, "how do we do this sabotaging thing?"

Looking uncomfortable, Verne glanced at R.J., "Uh, I'm not the expert. R.J.?"

The raccoon was only too happy to explain, "Our job is to get in, damage the machines, and get out. Sounds simple, right? Well, here's the catch…we've got to do it right under their noses! That's where stealth comes in." R.J. looked at the faces surrounding him. They all looked expectantly back at him. He took a breath, "Step one, two teams will be in position. One near the bulldozer; the other near the chainsaws. The humans stop work at 6:30," he held up a watch, "Thanks, Ozzie, for that information."

Ozzie looked pleased, "It was nothing, really."

"Okay," R.J. continued, "When the humans stop work, one of them will get out of the bulldozer. As soon as that bulldozer door opens, Hammy will dash inside and hide. Hopefully, the human won't even notice he's there. When the human is gone, we go into Step Two. Hammy will open the door so the rest of his team can get inside. Think you can handle that, Hammy?"

The hyper squirrel looked thoughtful for a microsecond, "Yeah, I can do that!"

R.J. grinned, "Great! Meanwhile, the other team will be breaking into the shed where they keep their chainsaws. The lookouts will keep an eye on the humans, while the sabotage experts go to work on the equipment. Now, the humans may come back out to make one final check of the area before bed. If one of them happens to see you…"

Hammy interjected, "Roll over and give our…"

"Not this time." R.J. interrupted, "This time, send in the distracters! Their job is to keep the humans' attention while the rest of us finish our jobs and get out of there."

Hammy nodded, "Ohh. Hey, can I do that? That sounds like fun! I know I could do it, please please please?"

R.J. nodded thoughtfully, "I guess you can, but we'll need more than one distracter. I was thinking this would be a great job for Ozzie and Heather."

The opossums smiled.

"It's my life's work." Ozzie said grandly, "Performance is what I do."

"It's like, important, you know?" Heather agreed, "And I learned from my dad."

"Works for me!" R.J. said, "Okay, so once the job is done, we move into Step Three. We get out of there and meet back at the log! Any questions?"

"I have one," Lou spoke up, "Who's going to be our sabotage experts?"

Verne gestured to the raccoon, "I nominate R.J. as our expert in sabotage."

"Very flattering, Verne," R.J. smiled, "but who else?"

Looking around her, Penny suggested, "What about our kids? They know a lot about electronics."

R.J. nodded, "Great! That's exactly who I was thinking of! That leaves Stella, Tiger, Verne, Lou, and Penny as lookouts."

Verne looked less than thrilled, "Great."

Not seeming to notice his friend's sarcasm, R.J. leaned forward, "Okay, let's rehearse this now and get it down…because tonight we strike!"

"Yeah!" Spike cried, "Teach the humans to mess with our woods!"

"Yeah!" chorused Quillo and Bucky.

R.J. smiled at their enthusiasm and started dividing his pals into two teams. Tonight, it was payback time.


	3. Chapter 2: Best Laid Plans

Chapter Two: Best Laid Plans

Miles away from the green spot, a highway stretched into the horizon. It didn't span the miles majestically, but rather sat dustily on the land it covered. A few cars traveled unremarkably down it. In fact, there was nothing extraordinary about the road; certainly nothing worth pulling over and digging out the camera for. Yet this is precisely what the occupants of the few cars traveling unremarkably down the highway were doing.

They busily snapped photos and blinked a lot, all the while muttering that they couldn't believe what they were seeing. What they were looking at was most definitely not the landscape. The landscape was the same as it had been for several hundred miles and was completely believable. What they were seeing was such that they somehow managed to simultaneously wisely keep their distance while they curiously pressed in with their cameras. Other people in other unremarkably traveling cars stopped to see what all the commotion was about.

They weren't expecting it to be about a bear.

It was a large black bear to be exact, striding purposely along the highway. The bear was grungy, as though it had walked a very long way. Its fur was slightly shorter, thinner, and bristlier than it should have been.

The muttering, blinking people gawked at the bear, but it took no notice of them. It pressed onward, as though driven by a powerful, unseen force. Nothing distracted or deterred it. The bear had one thing on its mind…the same thing it had been thinking about when it had been relocated to the Rocky Mountains a year ago.

Revenge.

Stella, Tiger, Penny, Quillo, Spike, and Hammy snuck through the forest to their position. Stella held up a watch, checking the time.

"Is it time now?" asked Hammy.

"No." Stella replied.

"How about now?" Hammy asked persistently.

"Not yet." Penny answered.

"Now?" Hammy asked yet again.

"NO!" everyone else retorted.

Stella checked the watch again, "It'll be time when the human gets here with the bulldozer and gets out."

"Ohh, right!" Hammy said, excitedly leaning out of the shrub they were hiding in. He peeked at the area where the bulldozer was to be parked. It was empty. He sat back disappointedly, "Not yet."

They heard a rumble getting louder and louder. Six animals peeked through the branches of the shrub at a giant yellow monstrosity with blinding eyes and a large gaping mouth that was headed right for them!

The monster machine quieted, its eyes growing dim. After a few moments, the door opened.

"Go Hammy!" Penny called.

"Yet!" Hammy exclaimed, becoming a small brown streak that flashed into the bulldozer.

The human shut the door and kept walking, yawning and cracking his back.

The animals breathed a sigh of relief. The human hadn't seen Hammy.

At the "munitions bunker", R.J. had just finished picking the lock of the shed with a hairpin. He opened the door a crack and motioned for Bucky, Lou, and Heather to go inside.

"Go, go, go!" he said as they dashed past him carrying equipment, then went inside himself.

Once inside, R.J. took the cap off a traffic flare and the room was lit by the red light. He set the flare on a shelf. Bucky and Heather produced some salvaged empty gasoline cans, while Lou the Lookout peeked out the slightly open door. R.J. and his team opened the gas caps on the chainsaws and placed tubes into the open tanks. They began the slow process of siphoning the gasoline from the chainsaws into the gasoline cans.

Outside, Verne and Ozzie sat at the far side of the shed, keeping watch. Verne was the first one to spot a human. Unfortunately, the human had already spotted the red glow coming from the shed.

"Human alert!" Verne whispered loudly.

Ozzie straightened, "The show must go on!" he declared in a loud whisper. The opossum marched out from behind the shed and onto a patch of dirt that was lit by one of the fading sunbeams. It shone on him like a spotlight.

The human stopped, "Huh?"

"To be, or not to be, that is the question…" Ozzie launched into a performance from Hamlet right in front of the startled human.

Verne watched, not breathing, as Ozzie held the human's attention. "Hurry, R.J.!" the worried turtle whispered.

On the other side of the humans' camp, things weren't going so well either.

"Intruder!" Tiger hissed from atop the bulldozer's seat, "A human is coming!"

"Jeepers!" Penny gasped.

Quillo and Spike called back, "We're not done yet!"

"Hammy, you're up!" Stella gently pushed him out the door.

The squirrel blinked. He twitched his tail. Then he dashed up to the human and started waving back and forth hypnotically, "You are getting very sleepy…you don't remember anything you saw…you are seeing hallucinations!"

Stella turned to where the two porcupine kids were working on the electrical wiring for the bulldozer, "How much longer?"

Spike held two wires, "We've got a problem! Is it the red wire, or the blue wire?"

Stella cried, "I don't know, make a guess! Hammy can't do that forever!"

"Okay," Spike looked from one wire to the other. Finally, he clipped the blue wire.

"Done!" he proclaimed. Quillo looked up and nodded, "Me too!"

"Then let's get out of here!" Penny exclaimed.

Stella frowned, "But that human'll see us!"

Tiger patted her back, "The human will not believe it if he does. They can be incredibly dense in that way."

"All right, if you say so," Stella shrugged, "Let's go."

The cat, skunk, and two porcupines hopped out of the bulldozer and ran toward the woods. Hammy danced crazily around the feet of the human, but didn't see the hard hat coming.

"Hammy, look out!" Stella cried, too late.

The hat came down over the squirrel. Hammy, now in a panic, dashed around under the hat, causing it to seemingly move of its own volition. The human caught the hat with one foot and held it down, "Where do you think you're going, little guy?" The human swiftly flipped the hat up and held it against his chest, keeping Hammy from escaping.

"Help! Somebody help me!" Hammy's muffled cry came from the hard hat.

The human lifted a radio transmitter from his utility belt and switched it on, "Hey, Boss, I caught a snoop out here in the dozer. What do you want me to do with it?"

The radio crackled with static as the reply came, "Same as all the others. Bring 'em here."

"But Boss, it's a squirrel," the human said.

"Don't matter," said the radio, "Bring 'em here."

"Sure, Boss." The human strode off toward the three trailers where the construction crew was temporarily living.

Just beyond the tree line, six animals watched him leave.

Tiger's fur was fluffed up. He arched his back, "I'd like to teach that human to not take what is not his!" he hissed.

"Jeepers! What do we do?" Penny gasped.

Stella was still in shock, "I…I don't know!"

"Get R.J.!" cried Spike.

"He'd know what to do!" Quillo added.

"Come on!" Stella led the animals in the direction of the shed, where she knew R.J. and his team were doing their job. The woods were getting dark, and making navigation difficult. Luckily, Tiger spotted a red glow.

"This way!" Tiger shouted, pleased when the others followed. They all nearly collided with Ozzie, who was still doing his rendition of Hamlet. The human he'd been entertaining jumped five feet backwards, startled by the sudden appearance of Tiger, Stella, Spike, Bucky, and Penny. The man screamed and ran off into the darkness. Verne peeked around the corner of the shed. Seeing his family members, he joined them.

"What's the matter?" Ozzie asked, almost at the same time that Verne asked the same thing.

"Where's R.J.?" Stella demanded.

Ozzie pointed. They all dashed to the shed, where Lou let them through the door. R.J., Heather, and Bucky looked up from their siphoning.

"What are you guys doing here?" R.J. asked, "The plan was that we'd meet back at the log!"

"Things aren't going according to plan!" Stella huffed, "Hammy got kidnapped by the humans!"

"WHAT?" Verne gasped.

R.J.'s jaw dropped. He let go of the tube he was holding and sprang into action, "How? Do you know where they took him? Let's go!" Without waiting for answers to his questions, the raccoon nearly dashed out the door. Verne caught his tail.

"Where are you going?" Verne cried.

R.J. yanked his tail from the turtle's grasp, "The humans' trailers! I'll bet my bag that's where they took him! Come on!" He ran out the door.

The others followed, slamming the door closed behind them. Inside the shed, the flare began to roll toward the edge of the shelf.

The family of animals hurried across the clearing toward the humans' trailers.

"We don't have a plan!" Verne yelled after the running raccoon.

"I'm making one up right now!" R.J. called back.

"That's so comforting!" Verne replied. He tripped, recovered, and continued running, "Look how great _this _plan is working out!"

"There's no time to argue!" R.J. said. Suddenly, he stopped. They had arrived at the trailers. The light was on in one of them. Through the window, the animals could see several men around a table. On the table was a hard hat. The hard hat was moving, but was held down by one of the men.

"There he is!" cried Stella, "He's in the hat!"

R.J.'s eyes narrowed as he sized up the situation.

"Well?" Verne asked expectantly, "What's the plan?"

"I'm working on it…" R.J. held up a hand, "Okay, here it is. You guys create a diversion that will draw the humans outside. I'll slip in and get Hammy."

"That's _it_?" Stella inquired incredulously.

"You got anything better?" R.J. asked desperately.

"No."

"Then let's go! Wait for my signal to start distracting!" R.J. headed for the doorway, ready to spring inside as soon as it opened. Verne joined him.

"I'll go in and get Hammy." The turtle stated.

R.J. protested, "No way, this crazy scheme was _my _idea, so _I'll _be the one doing the dangerous stuff."

"Then I'm coming with you!" Verne insisted, "You're not going in there alone!"

"Verne…" R.J. held up his hand.

The others took that to be their signal. Suddenly, an amazing uproar filled the once tranquil night air around the humans' camp as the family of animals yelled and sang as loud as they could!

The door opened. R.J. sighed at Verne and dashed inside with the turtle on his heels. All but one of the humans looked out.

"What is going on?" the humans who peeked outside asked.

"What's going on," the human who didn't peek outside said slowly, "is a rebellion." He slowly glanced around himself and nodded, "Yes, the animals are rising against us."

R.J. looked up at the man in the trailer. He was built like a bear: tall, big, and menacing. His hair was pulled back in a short oily brown ponytail, and his eyebrows nearly obscured his narrow slits of eyes. There was a cruelness in the way his mouth curved into a scowl-like grin. The man lifted the hard hat off the table and scooped Hammy up with it. The frightened squirrel cowered, shaking in the hat. Verne and R.J. glared at the man.

"Are you sure, Boss?" one of the other men called. They had all gone outside to investigate.

"Of course I'm sure!" the big man snapped, "I'm Cliff Garley, and I'm always sure!" Cliff glowered at Hammy, "What are you little menaces planning, huh?" he demanded.

Hammy just blinked back at the man, too frightened to move.

A giant explosion from the direction of the shed interrupted the interrogation. The flare had ignited the gasoline. A red fireball rose like an angry cloud over the camp. Shrapnel flew in all directions, banging against the metal trailers. Stella ducked as a piece flew right over her head.

Cliff began reaching a granite slab-like hand into the hat toward Hammy, "Talk, squirrel!" he growled.

In a desperate act, Verne dashed across the floor toward the man's feet.

"Verne! No! What are you doing?" R.J. hissed at the turtle. He winced as he heard the discordance outside getting quieter as the other animals' voices got more and more hoarse.

Distracted by the turtle, Cliff stopped threatening Hammy and grinned darkly down at Verne.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here!" Cliff reached out a foot and held Verne down by his shell. Cliff turned to Hammy, "A friend of yours?"

Verne wiggled out of his shell and called up, "Hammy! Jump down and I'll catch you!"

"What?" Cliff looked at the shell-less turtle in astonishment, "That's a good trick…"

R.J. took Cliff's moment of surprise dash out and grab Verne's shell, causing Cliff to lose his balance. The huge human hit the ground, spilling Hammy from the hat and causing everything in the trailer to rattle. Some glasses fell off the table, shattering.

Verne snatched Hammy off the floor, caught the shell R.J. tossed to him, and started heading for the door. R.J. grabbed both his friends and together the three animals raced out the door. They tumbled down the steps in a ball of fur and scales, landing at the feet of the freaked-out construction workers. The humans screamed like little girls and ran for the house, colliding with their boss, who had just stood up and was brushing himself off.

"Out of my way, you morons!" Cliff yelled, standing up again and pushing through the tangle of bodies. He reached the doorway just in time to see several small, dark forms disappear into the woods.

R.J. stopped at the tree line to make sure they weren't being chased. He saw Cliff, and they locked eyes for a moment. Cliff shook his fist at R.J. The raccoon shook his head and followed his family into the darkness.

"I'll get you, you varmints!" Cliff yelled at the retreating creatures. A man ran into camp, huffing and puffing.

"Boss!" he yelled, "I was attacked! A crazy possum," he gasped, "a huge cat with razor teeth, a skunk, and these balls of spines that rolled at me!" The man's eyes darted around, as though he expected more monsters to come out at him at any moment.

"I already know, Eddie!" Cliff yanked the man up, "Joe caught a squirrel spy sneaking around the bulldozer! And the little arsons struck our shed!" He dropped Eddie, his eyes darting around, "The animals are watching us. They're plotting against us. Even now, they're planning their next attack!"

"Oh!" Eddie gasped, "We've got to escape! Before it's too late!"

Cliff rounded on Eddie angrily, "We're not going to escape, you idiot! We're _men _and they're just a bunch of _animals_! We'll stay and fight. I'll not let a lot of fur get in my way!"

Eddie looked at Cliff in awe, "Wow, how're you gonna do that?"

"There was a raccoon in that bunch. It tripped me." Cliff said, thinking out loud, "They're smart little buggers. I'll bet he's their leader. Take care of him, and we won't have a problem with the rest of them. Except maybe the turtle. He's a slippery amphibian, he is."

"Um," Eddie cut in, "I think turtles are reptiles."

"Of course they are!" Cliff yelled suddenly, "I never said they aint!"

"No, Boss." Eddie shrank back.

Cliff slammed his fist against the side of his trailer, denting the aluminum siding, "One thing I know. We won't stop fighting until they do. This is _war_!"


	4. Chapter 3:What Families Do

Chapter 3: What Families Do

"Is everyone okay?" R.J. asked when they were all safely back at the log.

"Hammy?" Verne turned to the squirrel.

The squirrel nodded from his place by a pile of nuts, "Yeah, I'm okay." He turned to Verne, "Thanks Verne!"

"Don't mention it," Verne caught his breath, "I'm just glad we all made it out of there." The turtle looked around at his family, "That was almost a disaster!"

"Mission accomplished!" Spike hi-fived his siblings.

Hammy jumped up, holding a nut above his head, "Let's hear it for R.J.'s Eleven!" he cried.

Everyone cheered.

"Eleven?" Ozzie asked, "I count twelve of us."

Hammy blinked around at everyone, counting off on his fingers. He giggled, "Oh, right! I forgot to count myself!"

Verne shook his head, "Well, if this operation is officially over, I think it's officially time for bed."

"Couldn't agree more." R.J. nodded, "It's been a long, busy day! Goodnight guys." He started heading toward a tree.

"Goodnight R.J.!" the animals chorused.

"Wait, R.J." Verne called, "Where are you going?"

"Oh, uh…I'm not tired yet." R.J. explained, "I…wanted to go raid a garbage can."

At Verne's doubtful look, he added, "For old time's sake."

Verne sighed, "Okay, but don't forget to get some sleep, too."

"You got it." R.J. grinned, slung his bag onto his shoulder, and headed into the woods.

Verne watched him go, absently reaching toward his tail and wondering why it was still tingling. He cast a worried glance toward his family, then back to the bushes where R.J. had disappeared. He sighed. Then he made a decision.

The raccoon retraced his steps back to the human encampment. He peered through the bushes at the trailers. The area was now peaceful. At least, as peaceful as a camp full of home-threatening enemies could be. R.J. checked to make sure the coast was clear, then dashed across the clearing to the bushes near the door of one of the trailers. He could see the red flickering of the burning shed through the trees.

_The humans are probably all trying to put out the fire. _He thought. Slowly, cautiously, he raised himself up to peer at the trailer. To his surprise, the door had been left open! Rubbing his hands together, the raccoon grinned mischievously. He slowly climbed up onto the stairs and silently crept to the door. He gently pushed it. It creaked. He stopped and then pushed it a little more. It creaked more, but now he could peek inside. No one appeared to be home.

He heard a sound behind him. R.J. whirled to see someone coming out of the other trailer. If he didn't do something fast, that person would see him! Wincing at the loud creak, R.J. opened the door enough for him to fit through and slide inside. He peeked out to see if the person had noticed. The person hadn't, and continued on his way toward the red flickering. R.J. breathed a sigh of relief and turned to have a look at the trailer he was in.

A man he hadn't noticed before was snoring on a cot against the wall!

_Well, this was a real good idea _R.J. thought sarcastically. He set down his bag and headed to the table. Climbing onto a chair, he could see what was on the table.

Plans. Development plans.

R.J. studied the sheets of paper, his eyes widening as he realized what the humans were planning.

_Not only are they going to build houses where our home is, they're going to eventually build all around the entire area! The rest station, the countryside…everything will be gone! If we had to move, we'd all have to move a long ways away to keep from needing to move again and again. This is terrible! _

There's only one thing to do. We have to stop them from building…at least where we live.

R.J. went to his bag, pulled out a sheet of paper and a crayon, and made a rubbing of the plans. He rolled it up neatly and was just putting it in his bag when the door opened.

Seeing no better place to hide, R.J. dashed under the table.

He saw big heavy booted feet clomp past him, then stop at the cot. Suddenly, the sleeping man, no longer asleep, joined R.J. on the floor.

A loud voice R.J. recognized as the bear-like man yelled, "Get up you lazy dog! If I, Cliff Garley, am doing your job for you, I'm going to give Cliff Garley your paycheck! Now get out there and put out that fire!"

The man stood up quickly and rushed out the door without saying a word.

R.J. saw Cliff's boots turn, and then lift up. Peering out, he saw the Cliff had lay down on the cot. Facing the door.

_Oh great! Now what?_

_Create a diversion._

The blue bag was quietly consulted. R.J. pulled out a firecracker and a box of matches. Upon opening the matchbox, however, he found it was empty. Frowning, he put them both back into his bag and began rummaging again.

His search was interrupted by the creak of the still-slightly-open door.

"R.J.!" an urgent voice hissed.

The raccoon dropped the bag and turned to see the intruder. Verne's frightened face stared in at him.

R.J. groaned inwardly _Oh, _no

"Verne, what are you doing here?" R.J. yell-whispered back.

Verne's brows sunk, "What am I doing here? What are _you _doing here?"

"That's not…" R.J. whirled at a sound from the cot. He winced as Cliff reached around himself to scratch various disgusting areas. The man on the cot didn't open his eyes, however, and soon relaxed again.

R.J. relaxed some, too. But Verne didn't.

"That was too close!" the turtle cried, "Let's get out of here before he wakes up!"

"Take it easy, Verne! It's okay! Just go back to the log!" R.J. urged quietly.

"I will," Verne said, "As soon as you do."

R.J. closed his eyes and sighed. _This was _not _supposed to happen! _He eyed the sleeping Cliff. Then the distance to the door. Nodding slightly, he snatched his bag and made a run for it. "Go! Go!" he called to Verne.

He realized too late that he would have to open the door wider to fit through. Gulping, he threw the door open and flew outside. The door creaked loudly before banging into something inside the trailer.

R.J. and Verne paused in their flight to look back. A very angry Cliff was lumbering after them!

"You!" Cliff yelled, pointing a finger at them.

"Ahhh!" both animals cried, running harder.

But there was a team of construction workers in their way.

They both turned and ran a different direction, not pausing to see how many had joined Cliff in the chase.

"R.J., we're going the wrong way!" Verne yelled.

"I've got a plan!" R.J. called back.

Verne stopped and turned around, "Forget it!"

"Verne, no!" R.J. saw his friend turn and knew that the turtle was heading for the log. But he was also heading right for the men! "Verne! Stop! That way's no good!" R.J. ran after him.

"Neither are your plans!" Verne called, "I want to get home alive!"

"What?" R.J. slowed, "Verne! I know a better way!"

"You always do, don't you?" Verne yelled, "Your way always is better, and always ends up getting us into trouble while you get out fine! You know what? I think R.J. stands for Real Jerk!"

"Verne…"

R.J. saw Cliff running right for the turtle. R.J. put in a burst of speed, grabbed Verne, and dove into the bushes, accidentally landing on top of the turtle.

Verne spat out dirt. "Wha…?"

Just then, Cliff's boots thundered by, followed by an army of more boots.

Verne looked sheepish, "Oh." He glanced at the panting R.J., "Thanks."

R.J. took a deep breath, "Don't mention it." He stood up and peeked at the area. He heard the men's distant shouts getting farther and farther away. He helped Verne up and wordlessly started to walk back toward the woods.

Verne brushed himself off and followed. An awkward silence surrounded the two for the rest of the walk back to the log.

R.J. climbed quickly up a tree trunk, finding, ironically, that it was the same tree he'd slept in when he'd first met his forest family. He watched as the animals below bid each other goodnight and went to bed. His gaze rose from the ground to the diminishing red glow at the edge of the forest. The fire they'd accidentally set in the shed was dying down.

R.J. sat on the familiar tree limb, his mind replaying the events of the evening. He sighed, sitting alone with his thoughts, between the stars and the forest floor.

The sun rose over the suburban sprawl and the spot of forest. The birds began singing, oblivious to the action the previous evening. People began waking up in the houses. The smell of coffee wafted through the air.

Hammy sprang out of bed and stretched. He yawned quickly and, smiling, zipped to where he had stashed his food. He didn't waste any time in beginning to enjoy his breakfast.

The other animals were slower in getting up. Ozzie and Heather blinked sleepily, hanging by their tails from a tree branch. Penny and Lou tried to settle a skirmish between Bucky and Spike while keeping an eye on Quillo. Tiger remained curled up in a bed of soft moss, and Stella headed to the pond for a drink. Verne watched his family going through their morning routines and smiled, "Morning, everyone!"

Heather and Ozzie came down from their tree branch, "Morning Verne!"

"Good morning, Verne!" the others said in turn. Tiger opened his mouth in a wide yawn, arching his back and stretching his front legs down to his toes.

Verne inhaled a deep breath of fresh spring air. He smiled at the beauty of the woods he loved. The melting snow ran in rivulets to the lake, where Tiger was joining Stella. Verne turned and watched Hammy gulp down nuts while Heather organized the porcupine triplets into a berry-picking team. Ozzie stood off to the side, practicing various lines from famous Broadway plays. Lou and Penny enjoyed a rare quiet moment together and watched the sunrise.

They were all happy, which meant that Verne was happy. But something was not quite right; something was missing. R.J. Where was R.J.?

Verne looked into the tree he'd seen R.J. climb before bed. Sure enough, a furry lump with a striped tail lay in the crook of a branch, using a blue bag for a pillow.

The turtle squinted. Why hadn't R.J. come to bed last night?

_He must have been worried he'd wake us up. Or maybe he's still mad at me. Not that I blame him. _Verne thought. _He looked really tired last night, though; I should let him sleep in. _

Having made that decision, Verne turned to address the rest of the family, "All right, everyone. It's spring, so we've got to get started gathering food." He said, as he did every year. His family gathered around him as he spoke, "Thanks to Hammy, we have more than enough food to keep us through the winter. We even had to bury some of it so we would have a place to sleep!"

Hammy grinned.

"But this year, food may be hard to find." Verne continued, "So we'll need to work extra hard."

Tiger spoke up, "Though I do not hibernate, and my food comes from the humans, I will help you with your search."

"Thank you, Tiger, we appreciate it." Verne smiled at the cat, "We can use all the help we can get. This could be our toughest year yet."

"Speaking of help, where's R.J.?" Ozzie asked, looking around.

"He's still asleep," Verne replied, "R.J.'ll join us when he gets up. Let's get started…we've only got two hundred and seventy-three days to do this in."

The animals nodded and began the hunt. Heather, Quillo, Spike, and Bucky resumed their berry-picking.

Verne started picking berries off of a bush near Stella and dropping them onto a piece of bark. He shook his head.

Stella noticed, "What is it, Verne?"

"Oh," Verne shrugged, "Just thinking about last night."

Stella looked interested, "Oh. Bad news?" She added some berries to Verne's small pile.

"Maybe." Verne sighed, "I think R.J. feels somewhat responsible for what happened with the humans. And worse, I think I hurt his feelings."

R.J. woke, suddenly realizing it was morning. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Wow, I slept in!" He looked down and saw the others already gathering food. Smiling, he picked up his bag and climbed down from the tree. R.J. started to head to the berry bushes where Verne and Stella were picking when he caught a few of the words Verne was saying.

"And R.J. was …human…barely escaped…"

"What?" R.J. whispered to himself. Feeling bad for eavesdropping, but unable to leave, he kept listening.

"…plan was his…it was his responsibility…and Hammy…trailer…"

R.J.'s heart sank. _They're talking about last night. _

"…so he…we can't trust him anymore."

R.J. gasped. _Yes you can! It was one mistake…give me another chance!_

Then Stella's voice replied, loud and clear, "Wow. I'll remember that next time I talk to him."

Feeling hurt, R.J.turned and walked away. _There's got to be something I can do to win back their trust. _

Verne shook his head, "He hasn't been himself lately. I'm worried about him."

"Aww, Verne. Maybe he just needs some space." Stella suggested, "He's been on his own all his life, and he's only been living with us for a few weeks."

"Maybe you're right." Verne sighed, "I just hope he doesn't blame himself for what happened last night. I was kind of hard on him. He shouldn't have lied to us about where he was going, but that's no excuse for the things I said."

Stella smiled reassuringly at Verne, "Don't worry about R.J. He wouldn't let something like that bother him. He's probably just got his mind on something else."

Verne nodded, but didn't look reassured. _I was awfully mean to him last night. But Stella's right. He's most likely trying to figure out what to do next about this human situation. I really shouldn't worry so much. _

Picking up the berry-laden piece of bark, Verne said, "I'll be right back, I'm just going to take these to the log." He went around the bush. Verne saw R.J. standing off from the group, gathering some leaves. _On the other hand, it _is _in my nature to worry._

"Hey, R.J., how's it coming?" Verne called to his friend. He started heading in R.J.'s direction.

Verne saw the raccoon jump as though he was startled. R.J. turned and forced a smile at Verne.

"Pretty good, Verne! May take a little longer than a week this time, though. Heh heh." R.J. chuckled hollowly.

Verne smiled back in a slightly confused way, "Good, that's great! Keep up the good work, there." _What is that crazy guy up to now?_

"I'll do that. You can count on me!" R.J. replied, "By the time we're done, that log is going to be full…no, _overflowing_ with food! No way we'll go hungry next winter…"

Eying his friend critically, Verne kept smiling. He could tell that R.J. was laying it on a little thick. Something was on R.J.'s mind; something that he didn't want Verne to know about. A tingle began at the base of Verne's tail.

A loud noise saved Verne from having to come up with a response to R.J.'s over enthusiasm. Unfortunately, it also amplified the tail-tingle by three-hundred percent.

"What was that?" Hammy cried, rushing up to Verne and R.J. The squirrel shook and glanced around nervously. Soon, the others started arriving from their gathering spots.

R.J. was already up a tree, "It's the humans! Oh no…"

"R.J., what's going on?" Verne asked.

"Guys," R.J. hopped down next to the turtle, "We've got a problem."

Verne frowned, "What kind of problem?"

A few minutes later, all of the animals were at the edge of the woods, watching a procession of bulldozers, backhoes, and other heavy equipment rolling into the human encampment.

"Jeepers!" Penny exclaimed.

Ozzie shook his head tragically and gestured, "The tide has turned, the odds are increasingly against us, and our enemies now have the upper hand."

R.J. stared at the huge vehicles, his mind already at work creating…and dismissing…plans.

Verne gaped at the trucks and machinery, "It was bad enough before, but now…us against all of _that_?"

"It doesn't look good." Stella agreed.

"So what are we going to do?" Hammy asked R.J.

"Nothing." Verne answered, "We can't fight that! It's impossible."

"So was filling the log in one week." Heather pointed out.

Hammy nodded, "If we each took one and messed it up so it wouldn't work…"

"There'd be no lookouts, no distracters, and no escape plan." Verne finished.

Hammy wouldn't give up, "But if we…"

"No," R.J. sighed, "It doesn't work. Verne's right. It's too dangerous now."

The animals stared at R.J., shocked at what they had heard him say.

"So, we're just supposed to give up?" Heather cried.

"To surrender without a fight?" Ozzie agreed.

Even Lou was flabbergasted, "R.J., that doesn't sound…I mean surely there's some plan…something that would work…"

"Yes." R.J. interrupted, "There is one plan. But it's…it probably wouldn't work anyway. So we give up. Move on. Okay?" The raccoon stomped off into the bushes.

Silence followed his departure until Stella spoke softly to Verne, "I see what you mean about him not being himself."

R.J. headed into the woods, following a faint trail made by his friends on their food-gathering expeditions. He sat on a rock and looked sadly at the ground.

_Great. Now not only do they not trust me, but I let them down. I'm the one who's always got the ideas. I'm the one who figures out how to get out of bad situations. And this time, all I can do is tell them that it's too dangerous. But I don't want them to get hurt! Last time, we almost lost Hammy. Then my spying trip put Verne in danger! I can _not_ allow these things to happen!_

_I will not do anything to endanger their lives again. Families look out for each other. _


	5. Chapter 4: Raccoons and Revenge

Chapter Four: Raccoons and Revenge

"R.J.?" Verne pushed through the bushes toward R.J.'s sitting rock.

R.J. looked up, "Hey, Verne."

"What was that all about?" Verne asked, "Everyone's worried, you just took off…" he stopped when he saw the tormented look on R.J.'s face. "What's the matter?"

The raccoon turned away.

"You don't have to pay off any more angry bears, do you?" Verne asked, attempting to lighten the mood.

"No," R.J. sighed, smiling a little, "it's nothing like that."

"Look," Verne sat on the rock next to the raccoon, "I'm sorry about what I said last night. I was just upset. You lied to us about where you were going, and I had a feeling you weren't telling the truth, so I followed you and when I saw where it was I…I got scared."

R.J. looked down.

Verne continued, "I just don't want to see you get hurt. And I was upset that you didn't trust us enough to tell us what you were doing. I didn't really mean it. You're plans are usually great." The turtle smiled warmly and genuinely.

Blinking, R.J. sighed into his lap, "I appreciate the apology, Verne, but that's only part of what's bothering me."

"Then what's the rest of it?" Verne persisted, "R.J., you can tell me. You're part of my family. Whatever it is, we'll deal with it together."

"You want to know what it is?" R.J. asked, "What it is, is that ever since I came here I've been putting everyone in life-threatening situations. And this time, we almost lost Hammy because of it! And then you followed me right into trouble! You're right. I'm dangerous. If I keep this up…I'll end up alone again. And for what, Verne? A bunch of trees? A log, a little spot on a map…" R.J. trailed off. His blue eyes looked haunted, "I can't let that happen again."

"Again?" Verne asked, puzzled, "R.J., Hammy's fine. It all worked out!"

"I know." R.J. said.

"Then what are you talking about?" Verne cried.

"Nothing."

"Oh boy." Verne sighed, "R.J., do you remember when we talked that night before we raided the human woman's house? When I said you were crazy and fearless?"

"Yeah." R.J. nodded.

Verne looked keenly at the raccoon, "Well, those are great qualities for you! It's who you are, and we accepted it. We've even started to become a bit more like you. It's been good for us…all of us…and we've gotten accustomed to it. You can't stop being you, and we don't want you to!"

R.J. furrowed his brow, "You don't really know me. Heck, _I_ don't really know me. I don't even know what 'R.J.' stands for!" He tried to laugh, but it came out more like a cough, "For all I know, it _does _stand for 'Real Jerk'."

"R.J., no one blames you for what happened last night." Verne finally exclaimed, "We all know that when we're with you, danger comes with the territory. And everything worked out all right, so why are you beating yourself up about it?"

"I'm just worried that it could be worse next time." R.J. explained.

"Well, don't be." Verne smiled, "That's my job."

R.J. chuckled, "So it is." _I've spent too long running; running from humans, running from Vincent, running from my past. I hadn't stopped long enough to see what kind of guy I'd become. I'm just lucky that Verne and the others decided I was the kind of guy they'd like to have in their family. If it wasn't for them, I'd still be running. Maybe in a way, I am. _

"R.J.?" Verne jerked him out of his thoughts, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking." R.J. smiled sadly.

"Would it make you feel better to call me Uncle Verne?" Verne asked.

That did make R.J. laugh, "You guys _must _be worried about me!"

"Of course." Verne said matter-of-factly, sliding off the rock, "Now are you going to join us for lunch or not?"

"I'll be there!" R.J. hopped off the rock and grinned at Verne.

"Good." Verne nodded, "Let's go."

The turtle and raccoon walked together through the woods.

The sound of screaming caused them to break into a run.

Verne and R.J. skidded to a halt just before the clearing where the log was. The scene in front of them filled their eyes with horror.

A black bear was tearing bushes apart, snorting, and roaring as he chased first one animal, then another. He ripped the log from the ground and shook it, causing the porcupines to fall out.

Regardless of the missing fur, R.J. recognized the bear immediately.

Vincent.

The bear thundered toward Stella and snatched her up in a monstrous paw, "WHERE'S R.J.?" he demanded.

"Like I'd tell you!" Stella yelled. She struggled around and puffed green skunk spray into Vincent's face. Stella screamed as the bear's grip tightened.

"YOU'LL REGRET THAT!" Vincent roared.

Tiger dashed out of the bushes, "Drop her immediately!" he yowled.

Vincent lowered his massive head at Tiger, "Or _what_?" he sniffed.

Tiger swiped a clawed paw across the bear's nose.

Howling in pain, Vincent threw Stella down at Tiger. The skunk and the cat slammed into the ground together.

R.J. nearly jumped out of the bush he and Verne were hiding in, but Verne caught him.

"What are you doing?" Verne cried in a horse whisper.

R.J. yanked his tail from Verne's grasp and darted away, calling back, "I've got to stop him!"

Verne gulped and ducked further into the bush. His tail was completely numb as the tingle made its way up his back and spread to his limbs. He wanted to go after R.J., but knew that it would do no good to give Vincent another potential hostage. Instead, he started making his way toward the place where Penny, Lou, and the kids were hiding.

"Stop!" R.J. yelled at Vincent, who was angrily shaking the tree that Hammy, Heather, and Ozzie had taken refuge in. R.J. noted with some relief that the bear was too lazy to actually _climb _the tree.

Hearing R.J.'s voice, Vincent stopped shaking the tree and whirled around. His eyes were like red hot coals and his mouth was curved up in an evil grin of vengeance.

"R.J. How nice of you to join us. And just in time for lunch, too. I was thinking," Every step the bear took toward the raccoon shook the ground, "it's been a long time since we had a picnic! I was also thinking that since you owe me, you could provide the food! Or rather, your friends could."

"Leave them alone, Vincent!" R.J. yelled. His heart was pounding, but he stood his ground as the bear came closer and closer. "This has nothing to do with them!"

"Oh, but it does." Vincent stopped and leaned down towards R.J., "You were the one that brought them into this in the first place. I'm just here to collect a debt."

R.J. glared.

"A very _large _debt." Vincent's breath blasted R.J.'s face. The raccoon choked and sputtered, trying to breathe amidst the air thick with the aroma of skunk, stale Spuddies, and weeks-old dead fish.

"I warned you not to leave town, R.J." Vincent growled, "I told you I'd hunt you down and kill you."

R.J. winced, "But I didn't leave town!" he pointed out.

"I know!" Vincent snorted, blasting more nasty-smelling air at R.J., "Even worse! You made ME leave town! On top of stealing, not one, but TWO wagonloads of food from me! Now, how do you think that makes me feel?"

R.J. tried to speak, but couldn't get enough air into his lungs to do so. He coughed instead. Vincent snatched him up, "I'll tell you how it makes me feel. It makes me feel hungry!" The bear's claws closed over R.J.'s head.

"Give me another chance!" R.J. cried, "I can get more food…three times as much if you want!" R.J. struggled vainly.

Vincent bared his teeth, "You had your chance, and you blew it. Now shut up so I can eat you. And your friends, too!" The bear opened his mouth and started lifting R.J. toward it.

"Now!" shouted Verne. From the bushes and trees came R.J.'s family. The porcupines rolled towards Vincent's feet. Hammy and the opossums dropped onto his head and back. Tiger attacked the bear's middle, and Stella ran up and puffed another huge cloud of skunk spray at the bear. Startled, Vincent dropped R.J., who landed on Verne.

"Come on!" Verne grabbed the raccoon's paw and together, the animals ran away into the woods, leaving Vincent choking in the cloud of green.

"Arrrrjayyyy!" Vincent roared, groping blindly around, eyes tightly shut, "Wherever you are, I'll find you! And I'll kill you, and whoever happens to be near you! You won't get away with this one! I will not rest as long as you live!" With that, Vincent thundered out of the woods to find somewhere to recover.

In the bushes, twelve animals collapsed into a pile of relief.

R.J. was the first to stand up. Hammy clung to him in a hug.

"I was so worried, R.J.!" Hammy cried.

Verne shook his head, "I've got to admit, you had us scared!"

"Thanks for the rescue, you guys." R.J. smiled, "Whew, exciting day, huh?"

"Mmmhmm, you can say that again!" Stella exclaimed.

Everyone laughed, glad that they were all safe and together.

Later that evening, the family of animals was bedding down for the night. R.J. couldn't relax. He kept envisioning Vincent's golden smoldering eyes watching them from somewhere in the woods…waiting for the moment to strike. It was downright disconcerting! He turned over in his bed of leaves. And over again.

Heather opened one eye and peeped at him. She stood up, careful not to wake her father, and walked over to R.J.

"Can't sleep?" she asked.

R.J. shook his head, "Vincent is back."

Heather nodded in agreement, "Today, I was like, 'he's going to kill R.J.!' and Verne was all, 'Not if we stop him!' We were all like, so totally freaked out!"

"So was I." R.J. admitted, "It's not right, though. You shouldn't have to put up with Vincent. He's my problem. If anything happened to any of you because of me, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself."

"But you're part of our family!" Heather exclaimed, "So that makes your problems like all of ours as well! We stick up for each other. Don't worry, R.J. We won't let Vincent hurt you."

"It's not me I'm worried about." R.J. explained, "It's all of you. It's not fair that you have to be afraid for your life just because I did some stupid things in my past."

Heather frowned, "Who says life is fair?"

R.J. looked out the door and saw the moonlit woods. "Yeah." He looked at Heather again, "Well, you'd better get back to bed before your dad wakes up."

"Okay, R.J. Do you think you can sleep now?" Heather asked.

R.J. smiled reassuringly, "I'll be able to sleep soon. Goodnight."

"Goodnight!" Heather smiled and returned to bed.

R.J. heard her breathing get slower and deepen. He whispered,

"Goodnight."

Vincent walked up the road, blinking his blurry eyes. That skunk had really done a number on him. His nose was numb from smelling himself, and his eyes were still watering. And that weasel R.J. had managed to escape...again! Grumbling to himself, Vincent headed toward the rest stop where he had lived before R.J. had gotten him captured. He passed the picnic table, unhappy to see that the garbage man had just come by and cleaned the place up. Vincent climbed the cliff to his cave, smiling at his collection of "Do Not Feed The Bears" signs.

He was about to walk into the cave when he was met with a huge something slapping him in the face!

Blinking his eyes, he strained to see what had hit him.

Due to Stella's defense mechanism, he heard what it was before he saw.

The rumble of a bear's growl.

Vincent scowled. He was _not _in the mood to deal with this! He wanted to go to bed and get rested up for his day of enacting revenge on a certain raccoon.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY CAVE?" he roared.

The other bear grunted in surprise, "YOUR cave? Funny, I don't see your NAME ON IT!"

"Get OUT!" Vincent snarled, "I'm warning you, I've had a bad day and..."

"No offence, dude, but you STINK!" the other bear suddenly cried, "Hmm, not bad looking though."

"WHAT?" Vincent was totally thrown off balance by these remarks. He'd been gearing up for a fight; the sudden turn in conversation was very unexpected, and not at all welcome.

His eyes finally adjusted to the dark of the cave, and he saw who he was talking to. A large female bear, nearly his size, with glowing green eyes and shiny black fur. She was standing in his cave with her massive paws on her hips. Vincent could still feel the place where one of her paws had connected with his head.

"I said, YOU STINK! Now go get washed up, I can't have you smelling up the house!" the bear ordered.

Vincent snarled again and drew himself up to his full height. How dare this bear order him around in HIS cave? "Who do you think you ARE?"

The female bear gave him an unimpressed look, "I'm Dottie. And who are you, Stinky?"

Vincent charged at her, determined to wipe that smug look off her face, "VINCENT!" he roared furiously.

The other bear met his charge with a surprisingly powerful blow to the chest. Stunned, Vincent lost his balance and fell to the ground. Dottie stood over him. She held his paws down with each of hers and blew bear breath into his face. It was a great trick for intimidation.

"Now look here, Stinky." Dottie growled menacingly at her captive, "Finders keepers makes this MY cave! So if you want to stay here, I've got to lay down some rules!"

Vincent stopped struggling and glared defiantly up at the other bear. He suddenly noticed how her green eyes sparked with fire. Captivated but angry, Vincent simmered beneath her weight.

Dottie continued, "No uninvited guests, I do the grocery shopping, and YOU don't come inside smelling like a toxic waste dump!"

"I..."Vincent said

"I'm NOT finished!" Dottie interrupted, "You will now go to the river and SCRUB until your FUR is nearly coming off, and don't come back until you smell like a BEAR again! Or I'll take you down and DO IT MYSELF!"

Vincent was astonished. No one had ever treated him this way before. He found it utterly attractive.

"I'd like to see you try." Vincent snarled at Dottie, daring her.

Dottie sniffed, "Fine." She hefted Vincent to his feet and grabbed his paw. The female bear dragged him out of the cave and down the hill to the river. The entire time, Vincent marveled at how strong she was. He wondered if this could be love.

Dottie dumped him unceremoniously in the river, grabbed some mud, and started vigorously pelting him with it. He threw mud back at her, and the occasional rock. When one hit her side particularly hard, she jumped Vincent and held him under the water until he stopped struggling, then she dragged him back up and scrubbed him with the rock. He sputtered and protested the entire time. Then, when she was not looking, Vincent grabbed her head and grinned, "You're the meanest, roughest, ugliest female I've ever met!"

She grinned back, "You're the sourest, grumpiest, most ungrateful bear _I've _ever met!" She splashed him in the face with water and dashed away.

Vincent pursued her down the stream, stopping only to exchange growls and snarls with her. The two bears bickered and played in the moonlit stream, all thoughts of raccoons and revenge momentarily forgotten.


	6. Chapter 5: Survival

Warning...action ahead...story getting slightly scarier...if you can't take it, stop reading now. I will not be responsible for any flames that may be incurred.

* * *

Chapter 5: Survival

R.J. opened his eyes and sat up. Yawning, he stretched and stood up out of bed. Then he noticed something odd. He wasn't in the log where he had fallen asleep!

"What?"

He looked around him, recognizing his surroundings as the place behind the dumpster where he had lived before he had met Verne and the others. Old dirty newspapers were strewn on the ground. A dented, empty soda can lay in a pool of oily water. A layer of grime covered everything. R.J. wrinkled his nose. _Actually, it looks _worse _than when I lived here! More like it did when I first moved in!_

The raccoon stood up and reached for his bag. But his bag wasn't there! Alarmed, he scrambled out from behind the dumpster and began frantically searching the area. No bag! But there was a group of picnickers down the road who were just leaving...and leaving a massive pile of leftovers in the garbage can!

Delighted at his good fortune, R.J. took off down the street towards the recently vacated picnic area. There was something oddly familiar about this scenario, but R.J. pushed aside all feelings of anything but excitement as he raced towards the garbage can. He sprang onto the table and dove off the end into the large metal can. Happily, he began munching the goodies that the humans had left behind, even finding a soda can that was half-full! He gulped that down, too, enjoying the fizzy sweetness.

Suddenly, his feast was interrupted by something sharp hooking into his tail and dragging him out of the can!

"Ahh!" R.J. cried as his attacker lifted the raccoon to eye level.

_I know this guy..._R.J. thought.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING EATING MY FOOD?" the attacker demanded.

"I didn't know it was yours! Honest!" R.J. struggled in the giant creature's grasp. Being lifted by the tail is not a comfortable thing. In fact, it is quite painful, especially for someone like R.J. with an unbalanced tail-to-body mass ratio.

The attacker glared, "You can't read?" He pointed to a sign with "Beware Of The Bear" painted on it.

R.J.'s stomach growled, "Look, it won't happen again! I swear!"

"You're right!" the bear rumbled, "Because I'm going to kill you!" The massive animal raised R.J. over his gaping, fang-filled mouth.

"No! Please! I'm all I've got!" R.J. pleaded. Then an idea hit him, "And I can get you more food!"

The bear paused, "You can?"

"Yes!" R.J. lied, "I gather food all the time anyway!" Anything to avoid being eaten by a bear!

"Hmm..." the bear appeared to think about this, "All right...since I'm a reasonable guy. I'll make you a deal. You bring me the food you gather every evening, give me ninety percent, and if I like what I get, I'll let you live."

R.J. stopped struggling and tried to envision living off of ten percent of what he was currently able to gather in a day. He didn't like what he imagined. "Ninety percent?"

"I eat a lot," the bear growled, shaking R.J. menacingly, "So you'd better make sure it's a _big _ninety percent!" He yanked R.J.'s tail, causing pain to shoot up the raccoon's spine.

"Sure! Whatever you say!" R.J. eyed the bear's huge teeth.

"And if I ever find you holding back, or cheating me, I'll kill you. You can't hide from me, either. I'll track you down. So you'd better not try anything. Got it?" the bear snarled.

"I won't forget." R.J. cringed at the bear's teeth.

"Good." The bear continued, "remember, I'm only doing this cause I like you."

"Ow!" R.J. said, gritting his teeth, "Right!"

The bear looked questioningly at his captive, "You got a name?"

"Uh, it's R.J." R.J. gasped.

"Hmph." the bear sighed, "Call me Vincent."

R.J. tried to think light, floaty thoughts, hoping to make it easier on his poor tail, "Right, Vincent. Got it!"

"I'll see you tonight at sundown," the bear called Vincent said, "Both you and the loot had better be there!" With that, Vincent dropped R.J. onto the ground, dumped the contents of the garbage can into a blue cooler, strapped the cooler on a wagon, and pulled it up a rocky cliff.

Massaging his strained tail, R.J. called out, "Don't worry about it! I've got it covered! See you tonight!"

As soon as the bear was out of sight, R.J. sighed sadly, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Then he remembered.

And realized that he had somehow traveled back in time to the day he'd met Vincent!

"Wha...!"

R.J. sat up quickly, bumping his head on the log.

"Ow!"

He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes with one hand. Feeling disoriented, he stood up, picked up his blue golf bag, and stepped out of the log.

Outside, the sun was just rising, its beams appearing over the hedge that surrounded the forest. Dew sparkled on the grass and berry bushes. The forest was quiet, as the birds hadn't yet awoken.

R.J. shook his head as an image of Vincent standing in the clearing appeared in his mind.

"What a terrible nightmare," he mumbled.

The sound of a door closing got his attention. While that particular sound wasn't unusual in the middle of suburbia, it was unusual this early in the morning.

It had come from the direction of Cliff Garley's construction (actually, _de_struction) camp, so R.J. began walking in that direction.

A furry figure spotted him and fell into step behind him, following the raccoon through the woods.

Unaware of his follower, R.J. stopped, glanced around, and flattened himself against a shrub. He was getting close to the humans; it was time for stealth. Ever so quietly, he tiptoed towards the human camp.

A branch snapped behind him.

"Ahh!" R.J. leapt into the air and spun around, his mind still partly occupied by his nightmare. Heart beating wildly, his alarmed expression dropped into a relieved and slightly annoyed one.

"Hammy! What are you doing here?" he asked.

The squirrel smiled, "I'm following you! What are you doing?"

_I can't go anywhere these days without being followed! _R.J. thought, trying to slow his breathing back to a normal rate, "Reconnaissance work."

Hammy looked confused, "Huh?"

"Spying," R.J. explained, "I'm spying on the humans. Maybe I can find a weakness so we can stop them."

"Wow! Really?" Hammy asked, clearly impressed, "Can I come?"

"Well..." The hazards of the mission compelled R.J. to say "no", but the look on Hammy's face was a very good argument. _What the heck. Verne told me to stop acting overly cautious. And it's not like we're attacking the humans or anything. _

"Okay," R.J. sighed, "but you have to stick close, and do exactly what I tell you. Got it?"

"Okay!" Hammy bounced.

"All right," R.J. motioned for Hammy to follow him, "Quietly."

The two moved silently to the edge of the woods until the roofs of several buildings could be seen beyond the trees.

R.J. and Hammy peered through the dense shrubbery at the trailers containing the humans. Just behind the trailers, an army of huge yellow and black vehicles was parked, ready to unleash destruction on the outpost of nature. R.J. could feel Hammy next to him, fairly vibrating with energy.

Just then, a human came into view. He was a tall, lanky guy wearing a construction hat. And carrying a gun. The man paced back and forth in front of the trailers like a prison guard.

"He's got a gun!" R.J. exclaimed.

"Oh no!" Hammy cried, "What's a gun?"

R.J. looked seriously at the little squirrel, "If you don't know, you don't want to find out. Humans use them to instantly kill other creatures from distances."

Hammy gulped, "And he's got one?"

R.J. nodded grimly.

"Then..." Hammy glanced back the way they'd come, "maybe we should get out of here."

R.J dropped his bag and leaned a little further out of the bush.

"Yeah..." he stopped. Another human had appeared and was talking to the first one. R.J. strained to hear what they were saying.

"How's it going, Fred?"

"Pretty good, Bob. No sign of that bear."

"Good, well you know what to do if you see it."

"Sure do!"

"Boss sent me with a message."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. If you see any other animals, especially a raccoon or a turtle,"

"Yeah?"

"Make meat popsicles out of them."

"Sure thing!"

When the conversation was over, the first man went back to pacing with the gun and the other man went inside one of the trailers.

R.J. turned to Hammy, "We better go and warn the others to stay away from the humans! We'll find some other way to…" he trailed off as he saw a huge mountain of fur moving through the woods on the other side of the human camp. It was shaped like a bear, and was nearly to the humans' clearing. He thought he saw another one somewhere behind…but it was probably just an illusion.

"Oh no, Vincent!" R.J. cried. _I've got to warn him! Much as I dislike that guy, no one deserves to be shot! _

Without thinking, R.J. pushed out of the shrub he and Hammy were sitting in. Vincent saw him and sped up.

"Vincent! No, don't! He's got a gun! That human has a…"

_Bang!_ The ground exploded near R.J.'s feet. Vincent looked as startled as R.J. felt. The bear stopped and hunched down.

Realizing that he'd attracted the human's attention, R.J. whirled and ran. He couldn't run back into the bushes because if the human shot at him, he might hit Hammy. Instead, he ran across the clearing along the edge, away from the human but toward the hiding bear!

"Hammy, run!" R.J. yelled.

_Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

The bullets were missing him by mere inches. R.J. pumped his legs harder.

_Bang!_

He felt a searing pain as the bullet grazed his leg. He tripped and started going down.

Running out of bullets, the human grabbed rocks and hurled them at the raccoon. One struck him in the back of the head, another in his side, knocking the wind out of him. Dark spots appeared in his vision. Dropping and rolling, R.J. made it into the woods…right at Vincent's feet. Looking down, he saw trickles of red running down his leg and soaking into the soil. Looking up, he saw the face of his adversary.

His last thought before losing consciousness was to wonder if he'd be able to find where he'd left his bag.

Back at the log, the animals had awoken.

"Morning, everyone!" Verne greeted his family, "Stella, Tiger, Heather, Ozzie, Lou." He smiled at the triplets, "Morning kids! Looking good today, Penny."

Penny smiled, "Everyone finally slept all night long! It was wonderful!"

Stella looked around, "Where's Hammy and R.J.?"

"Hammy got up early to gather nuts. He woke me up this morning to tell me where he was going." Verne explained, then frowned,"But I have no idea where R.J. is."

"Um…" Heather looked troubled, "That's like, really not good."

"Why?" Stella asked, "did he say anything to you?"

Heather's eyes went wide, "He did! Last night…we were talking about things, you know? And…and he kept saying how Vincent was his problem, and like how it wasn't fair that we had to deal with it, and stuff! And how if anything happened to us that he wouldn't forgive himself…and that he couldn't sleep, but he said that he would be able to soon…and stuff like that!"

Verne narrowed his eyes, "R.J. said all that last night?"

Heather nodded, "He was really worried about it!"

"Jeepers!" exclaimed Penny.

Tiger looked concerned, "His inner sense of duty to his friends may have compelled him to leave in order to minimize the risk to those he is closest to!"

Verne dashed to the log and peered inside. The turtle returned slowly, a defeated look on his face, "His bag is gone!"

"He has nobly departed to spare us from sorrow!" Ozzie wailed.

"He didn't even say goodbye." Heather sat down dejectedly.

"I was afraid this would happen, but I still can't believe he's gone." Verne sat down on the ground. The others joined him and Heather. All the joy of a fresh new day had dissolved, leaving only sadness. None of them could think of anything comforting to say.

"I want Uncle R.J.!" Spike cried. His siblings sniffled.

"I know, Sweety. I know." Penny crooned.

"Here comes Hammy," Heather said in an empty voice, "Who wants to be the one to break the news?"

Verne looked up and saw the brown blur of Hammy traveling at full speed. He sighed, "I'll do it." The turtle stood and went to greet the returning squirrel. Before he could open his mouth to speak, the blur materialized into the form of Hammy and shouted, "Verne! Guys! R.J.'s in trouble!"

"What?" Heather looked up in surprise.

"What kind of trouble?" Stella asked.

Lou stood up, "When is R.J. not in trouble?"

"Let us not hesitate to assist him!" Tiger sprang into action, followed by the others.

Verne looked urgently at Hammy, "Where is he?"

"Over there! At the human camp!" Hammy pointed, "Humans…a gun…two bears…but I think R.J. only saw Vincent…and we've got to hurry! Follow me!"

The squirrel was off in a flash, with the others struggling to catch up.

Together, the eleven animals rushed through the woods to help their missing family member.


	7. Chapter 6: Soft Side

Chapter Six: Soft Side

R.J. felt himself drifting through space, as though some empty void had swallowed him up.

_Swallowed? Is this what it feels like to be eaten? _

Twinges of pain washed over and around R.J. He saw a flash of light when he tried moving his eyelids.

_Uh, okay. I doubt I'm eaten. Unless Vincent also swallowed a flashlight!_

He tried the eyelids again. This time, the light stayed! R.J. sat up, wincing as he did so. He had a massive headache, and his side hurt where the rock had struck him. He glimpsed something white and looked down.

Who had tied a strip of cloth around his leg?

Then it suddenly dawned on him where he was.

Vincent's cave.

"Ahh!" R.J. looked around nervously. He spotted Vincent asleep on the other side of the cave, along with another bear that R.J. didn't recognize.

"Two of them!" R.J. mouthed in dismay. _I've got to get out of here!_ He took one step and painfully remembered why his leg was wrapped in a bandage. He sat down carefully and put his chin on his hand in thought. The raccoon realized that, regardless of his long nap, he felt drowsy. His eyelids drooped. Glancing over at the bears, he fought to stay conscious. He didn't trust them not to have a snack while he was sleeping, and he didn't want to be the snack!

Unable to fight off his body's healing mechanisms, R.J. began to drift between levels of consciousness.

Eventually, he heard two voices in heated arguement!

"Vincent, I was there, all right? I saw him! He saved your life! All I'm asking is that you show a little gratitude! At least you could be _civil_!" a female voice bellowed.

Vincent's gravelly voice countered, "R.J.'s not someone you can trust. He's a con artist, and I like that about him. He could have been as successful as me if it wasn't for that revolting soft side of his!"

"That 'soft side'," the female voice growled, "is the reason you're standing here today! If you'd stepped out of the woods even a little, you'd have been some human's hunting trophy! You owe that little raccoon a lot!"

"No, now we're almost even." Vincent replied.

"Vincent!" the female voice rose.

R.J. opened his eyes and peered at the two other occupants of the cave. The two bears' roaring match seemed enough to keep him awake, so he might as well see what he was hearing.

The female bear was glaring fiercely at Vincent, "If you don't stop treating that little guy like dirt, well then _I'll _have your head for a hunting trophy!" Her roar filled the cave, reverberating off the walls. Even Vincent looked intimidated by the riled female bear! Eyes glowing, she advanced slowly toward Vincent. She raised one paw over her head and pointed at Vincent.

"And if you don't stop acting like a jerk, I'll hand you over to the humans, _myself!_"

Vincent blinked.

R.J. blinked.

The female bear glared.

Finally, Vincent's shoulders slumped. He sighed, an oddly non-malicious leer covering his face.

"Whatever you say, Ma'am." Vincent smiled.

R.J. made an astonished sound. The bears turned to look at him. Vincent's eyes narrowed, and the female bear headed straight for the injured raccoon.

Reflexively, R.J. shrank back. Any creature whose wrath weilded that kind of power over Vincent was surely someone to be reckoned with! The mental image of himself running on one good leg from an enraged pair of bears did little to alleviate the tension he felt.

But when shaking, he looked up at the big black bear, he saw something completely unexpected. Something that, to R.J., seemed completely out-of-place on a bear's face.

Compassion.

The bear put her massive paw softly next to R.J. on the bed of leaves. She gazed at the raccoon with tenderness and concern. An almost maternal warmth radiated from her eyes.

R.J. gazed back with a shocked expression. The number of unbeleivable things he was seeing seemed to multiply by the second!

_Did I really wake up this time? Maybe I'm still asleep and this is all another weird dream!_

"Who're you?" R.J. asked. _Dream or not, introductions are still a must!_

"My name is Dottie." the bear replied, "And you are R.J. Are you in a lot of pain?"

R.J. chuckled inwardly. The shock of meeting Dottie had caused his body to go numb.

"No," R.J. replied truthfully, "Not right now."

"I can easily fix that." Vincent growled from behind Dottie.

"Vin-cent!" Dottie snarled warningly. She looked apologetically at R.J., "Don't mind him. If there's any way I can help, or anything you need, don't hesitate to ask, all right?"

R.J. nodded, "Uh, okay." He looked uncertainly over at Vincent, who was glowering at him from across the room.

"Don't worry. I won't let ol' Grumpy come near you." Dottie smiled understandingly. She leaned close to R.J.'s ear and whispered, "That Vincent sure has a chip on his shoulder, doesn't he?"

"You have no idea." R.J. sighed.

Dottie winked at him, "Well, I'll see what I can do about that." She gently patted R.J. on the head with her paw, careful to keep her claws away from him, "Get some rest, now. And don't you worry, I'll take care of everything!" She smiled again at R.J. and then strode purposefully toward Vincent.

R.J. absently reached up and felt his head. "Sure, Dottie." he whispered. Shaking his head in disbelief, he curled back up and finally allowed himself to sleep.

Verne followed the running Hammy as well as he could. His short turtle legs prevented him from attaining speed, so every so often he'd call to Hammy to slow down.

"Hammy!" Verne called.

Instead of slowing down, however, this time Hammy screeched to a stop. Pointing to some shrubs, he declared, "This is it!"

Everyone cautiously approached the shrubs, as though expecting Vincent to jump out at them. Finally, they followed Hammy into the bushes. Eleven heads popped through the branches and peeked at the human camp. The man with the gun was now sitting on the steps of one of the trailers, reloading his gun and humming off-key.

Hammy gestured to the man, "He's the one that wanted to hurt R.J.!"

Verne leaned forward to get a better look and noticed something lying on the ground, just inches outside the bushes. He quickly reached out and grabbed it, ducking back into the bushes so the human wouldn't spot him. Verne held the object up.

"Uh, guys?" the turtle showed the others what he was holding. Heather recognized it immediately.

"R.J.'s cellphone!" she cried, "I didn't know it worked!"

Verne frowned at the phone. Sure enough, a red light shone from one of the buttons. "He must have dropped it."

"Maybe it's a clue!" Ozzie suggested.

Verne cautiously tapped the button. The screen came on. He squinted at it, "Why does it say 'memory full'?"

Spike peered at the phone Verne held, "The movie function is turned on!" he grinned, "look!" The little porcupine pressed one of the buttons and a triangle appeared on the screen, followed by static. They could hear a voice; but all they could see was blackness.

The animals gathered closer.

The image moved suddenly, as though it was bumped. It rolled towards a blur that seemed to be the ground. It moved again, and the underside of R.J.'s face came into view.

"Yeah." R.J.-on-the-screen said distractedly, looking at something else.

"Turn up the volume!" Quillo said.

Spike did so, and the animals clearly heard human voices.

"Yeah. If you see any other animals, especially a raccoon or a turtle,"

"Yeah?"

"Make meat popsicles out of them."

"Sure thing!"

They saw R.J. turn to the right and say, "We've got to warn the others to stay away from the humans! We'll find some other way to…"

Then R.J. stopped, gasped, and cried, "Oh no, Vincent!"

As R.J. moved, one of his feet bumped the phone out of the bushes and gave the animals a front-row view of the scene as it played out on the tiny screen. R.J. was running as a human with a long weapon took aim.

They heard R.J.'s voice yelling, "Vincent! No, don't! He's got a gun! That human has a…"

_Bang!_

"Hammy, run!" R.J. yelled.

_Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

_Bang!_

The animals gave a collective gasp as they saw their friend stumble, get pelted with rocks, and roll into the bushes.

The human went and sat on the steps and began reloading his gun. This continued for a few more seconds until the screen paused and letters flashed on saying, "Replay or Exit?"

Stella, Tiger, Ozzie, Heather, Penny, Lou, Spike, Bucky, Quillo and Hammy stared in horror at the cellphone. Verne closed the phone slowly, as the events they'd seen sunk in. The animals stared at each other in shock for a split second before they dashed around the clearing to the spot where they'd seen R.J. disappear on the recording.

"R.J.? R.J.?" they called, but there was no sign of the raccoon anywhere!

"Did anyone see his bag?" Verne asked.

The others halted their frantic searches long enough to shake their heads.

"Then maybe he got away somehow and took it with him!" Lou suggested.

Stella shook her head, "You all saw that recording! It doesn't look good. If he left, it probably wasn't under his own power."

"The bear!" Penny exclaimed, "Hammy mentioned seeing the bear!"

"And R.J. mentioned Vincent on the phone," Heather reminded them.

"Is it possible he was abducted?" Ozzie asked.

"Abducted by a bear?" Lou shook his head.

"I certainly hope not!" Penny breathed, "Poor R.J.!"

Verne sighed, "I don't know. All I know is that wherever he is, he's in trouble. And he needs our help!"

"We've got to find him!" Heather whimpered.

"But how?" Lou asked.

"Indeed!" Ozzie added, "The trail of clues seems to have ended here!"

"Maybe not," Tiger said thoughtfully, "I once heard The Woman speak of a place not far from here where she was attacked by a bear. Perhaps there we shall find him?"

The animals exchanged glances.

"It's worth a try." Stella sighed.

"Well, I say we do it!" Lou declared, "I mean, wouldn't he do the same for us? What do you say, there?"

"Let's go! Where is it?" Hammy looked expectantly at Tiger.

"We must find a road." Tiger replied, somewhat uncertainly.

"I know where one is! Come on!" Hammy flashed off through the trees. The others shrugged and followed him in hot pursuit.

Even as they crossed a ditch to the road, Verne felt his practical, sensible mind telling him that the chances were slim that they were even on the right road. And even if they were, even if they did happen to find the right place, even if the bear did happen to be Vincent, they might still not like what they found. Verne's mind told him to face the fact that their only chance to save the forest might be gone; that he might never see the mischievous, manipulative, crazy-yet-loveable raccoon again.

But his heart couldn't stop hoping. And neither, he suspected, could anyone else's.

_He can't be gone! He's too much a part of our lives now! The kids would be devastated, as well as Hammy. The others have also become very fond of him. And me…I'd miss him, too. We've only known him a few weeks, but it seems like he's always been there. _

_I can't imagine life without him there, driving me crazy every second of the day, getting into trouble, and all the while charming his way into our family. _

"Verne?" It was Hammy, "Don't worry about R.J. We'll find him, I just know it!"

"I hope you're right, Hammy." Verne tried to smile for Hammy's sake, "I hope he's okay."

"Really! I'm okay!" R.J. said, deflecting Dottie's attempts to assist him in standing up. R.J. rose to his feet, only wincing a little.

"What about your leg?" Dottie frowned.

R.J. tore off the bandage, "See, just a scratch. Nothing to worry about."He looked up at the female bear hopefully, "Can I please go now?"

Dottie looked unsure, "I don't know…those rocks hit you pretty hard. Are you sure you don't want to lie down and let the headache pass?"

"I don't have a headache," R.J. protested, "Dottie, please. You've been looking after me all afternoon and most of the evening. I'm fine now, and I have to go. My family's probably worried about me."

"What?" Dottie cried, "What do you mean?" She looked slightly nervous at the mention of R.J.'s family.

R.J. regarded the bear with a strange look, "My family…Hammy and Verne and the others? I told you about them already, remember?"

"Oh!" Dottie looked relieved, "I'm sorry! I thought you meant your _real _family! Which of course is impossible so…"

R.J. glanced down and crossed his arms, "As far as I'm concerned, they _are _my 'real family'. If you mean the one I was born into, I don't remember them. In fact, I don't even know what really happened to them."

"You don't?" Dottie looked surprised, then recovered, "I mean…how sad."

Looking skeptically at the bear, R.J. shook his head. She was a strange one, but he had come to realize he had nothing to fear from her. Especially after she had started treating him like her cub! It was a little too much motherly attention as far as R.J. was concerned, especially from a bear!

"Uh huh," R.J. uncrossed his arms and started walking toward the cave entrance, "Well, nice chattin' with you, Dottie, but I need to go now, so _bye_."

Dottie followed him, reaching for him, "Don't go!" she pleaded, "you're still not all the way healed yet, and it's terrible weather out there! You could catch cold!"

R.J. paused, "I've been living alone my whole life. I think I can take care of myself for one night, okay?"

Before the bear could say another word, R.J. turned to leave.

And tumbled head-over-heels down the cliff.

Dottie peered down at him, "Oh my goodness! Are you all right?"

"Yes!" R.J. groaned, picking himself up, "I'm okay." He dusted off his fur (unnecessary since it was raining), discovered a few new bruises, and set off down the road.

"That's the wrong way!" Dottie called to him. She remembered something.

"You forgot your bag!"

But R.J. was already out of earshot.

"He's gone." Dottie said sadly.

"Good riddance!" Vincent grumbled, arriving from his nap in the back of the cave.

Dottie just sighed at the little figure that was walking down the road away from the rest stop, "They leave home so soon!"


	8. Chapter 7: Confronting the Truth

Chapter 7: Confronting the Truth

"Are we there yet?" Hammy asked.

Rain was falling; big wet drops of it struck the ground in giant splashes, turning it to mud. It streamed over and through the fur and bodies of the animals as they trudged along beside the road.

"I don't think so." Heather replied to Hammy.

"Wait! I think I see something!" Ozzie exclaimed.

"Last time you saw something," Stella argued tiredly, "it was an old tire tread!"

"No, I see something too!" Penny said excitedly.

"Me too!" Quillo pointed, "over there!"

Regardless of their weariness, the animals all raced towards the object that they could barely see through the rain.

"It's a picnic table!" Lou announced.

"Snack machine! Over here!" Hammy called.

"I think R.J. took us here once," Verne remarked, noting the layout of the landmarks.

Tiger, though wet and miserable, perked a little, "This looks like the place that The Woman described!"

"If I remember this right," Verne looked around, straining to see through the rain, "R.J. said that Vincent's cave was on top of a cliff that should be…" Verne turned away from the road and pointed, "That way."

"We've got to go up a cliff? At night? In the rain? Oh, good." Stella crossed her arms, "Good thing we brought wings!"

Verne led the group toward the cliff and studied it when it came into viewing range.

It didn't look promising.

Tiger scrutinized the cliff. He nodded, "I could climb that."

"You?" Stella's eyebrows rose, "No offence, but you're not exactly built like a climber, Tiger."

"I am a cat," Tiger pointed out, "And while I lived with The Woman, she provided for me a climby thing to sleep and sharpen my nails on. I became an expert at climbing it. I could climb that cliff. Normally, it would be unthinkable, but under the circumstances, perhaps I could even give someone a ride."

"Verne should go." Heather suggested.

"I agree with that." Lou nodded.

The others murmured their consensus.

"Hold on, hold it!" Verne cried, holding up his hands, "Now, no one is going until we know that no one is home! All right?"

"That makes sense," Ozzie agreed.

"Bears!" Hammy pointed.

"Yes, we need to make sure they aren't home." Verne nodded at Hammy.

"No!" Hammy cried, "I mean _bears_! They're here!"

Everyone looked. They saw two big forms lumbering together past where the animals were standing. The bears were heading away from the cliff, and seemed to be in deep discussion. Neither one noticed the eleven visitors practically on their doorstep.

As soon as the coast was clear, Verne turned to Tiger, "We've got to hurry before they come back! Are you ready?"

"Whenever you are," Tiger replied grandly.

Verne glanced up and up at the cliff until it disappeared from view, enshrouded in the rain. He swallowed hard and climbed onto the fluffy cat's wide back. He was surprised at how much of Tiger's size was actually hair.

As soon as the turtle was securely on board, Tiger took off climbing the cliff, sometimes jumping from ledge to ledge, sometimes clawing up the wall. The big Persian was surprisingly agile, using his tail for balance. It didn't take him long to scale the cliff. To Verne however, perched precariously on the cat's back, the journey up the cliff seemed longer than the hike from the woods!

Finally, much to the turtle's relief, they reached the top. Verne winced when he saw Vincent's signs leaning up against the rock face. He hoped the bears were going on a very _long _walk. It was dark inside the cave. Thunder rolled from the storm outside. Twice, Verne jumped when he accidentally bumped into empty food cartons.

"R.J.?" he called quietly, "R.J., are you here?"

Verne stepped timidly further and further into the cave, with Tiger padding along silently behind him. Verne felt he could take comfort in the fact that he had the big cat along. Not that there was anything in the cave to be afraid of…

"R.J…agh!"

Verne bumped into something. Something that wasn't a food carton. He reached out and felt it. It was roughly cylindrical in shape, made from a canvass-like cloth, and had a zipper in the middle and a golf club hanging out the end.

R.J.'s bag.

"R.J., there you are!" Verne kept feeling, expecting to encounter the raccoon's coarse fur. Instead, his hand came up holding the bag's strap.

"What?"

A flash of lightning lit up the cave for a split second, allowing Verne to see what he had hoped not to.

Except for a few pieces of garbage and the familiar golf bag, the cave was empty.

No R.J.

Clutching the bag's strap, Verne stumbled backwards. His foot slipped on something and he fell down. He stood up and rubbed his head. Dragging the bag, Verne ran away from the cave as fast as he could. He ran right into Tiger and stopped. He felt numb. The world suddenly seemed unreal, like some terrible nightmare that he wanted desperately to awaken from. He fingered the bag's strap. It smelled of R.J.

But the raccoon was gone.

"Oh no! No!" Verne moaned, dropping the bag and holding his head distressfully.

Another rumble of thunder rolled threateningly from the outside, followed by more lightning. Verne again saw the bag for an instant. He turned sadly to where he knew that Tiger was standing quietly.

"Let's get out of here." Verne said in a small voice.

R.J. ran from the cave as fast as he could, not pausing to look back. He just ran on and on through the rain. Once, he stumbled, falling headfirst into a puddle of muddy water. Though he was already soaked, the water stung with an icy chill. Shivering, R.J. stood up and caught a glimpse of his rain-distorted reflection in the puddle. A drenched, filthy, ragged creature with sad blue eyes gazed back at him.

The raccoon blinked at his surroundings, taking in the dark forms of trees on either side of the road. _I wonder where I am? I don't think I'm anywhere near home._ _I was so desperate to get away from Dottie that I must have gone the wrong way! _R.J. thought wearily.

The wind whipped around him, straight through his thick, soaked fur.

Lightning crackled across the sky, leaving streaks in R.J.'s eyes. Something inside urged him to find someplace warm and dry and wait out the storm.

_But I don't have anyplace to go._

The image of himself and several animals snuggled warmly in a dry log popped into his head. But the thought of Vincent ripping the log apart to get to him quelled the urge to turn around and run back the way he'd come.

_If Vincent follows me home again…_

R.J. shivered again, but this time not from the cold.

_If I went back, what would happen to my family?_

Feeling lost, R.J. stared into the distance, not looking at anything in particular. The wind seemed to whisper past his ears.

"What would happen to them if you didn't?" it said.

The raccoon sighed heavily. _I did leave my bag by the human clearing. _

A car whizzed by, drove through the puddle, and sent a wave of more icy, muddy water splashing over R.J. The car disappeared into the distance and around a corner, unaware of and uncaring about the lonely figure standing by the side of the road.

R.J. glanced from one direction to the other.

_Maybe there's a reason I accidentally went in the opposite direction from home. Maybe…_

My bag is just stuff. I can get more. Verne and the others will find a new place to live. A place where they don't have to rely on stealing human food to survive. They'll be fine, just like they were before they met me! Before I turned their lives topsy-turvy with all this human and Vincent stuff. I can't endanger them anymore!

I can't go back.

With a heavy but resigned heart, R.J. continued his journey away from Vincent's cave, the suburban sprawl, Cliff Garley, the hedge, the log, and the only family he'd ever known.

Verne hopped gratefully off Tiger's back. Grateful for the ride, yes, but even more so that he'd survived the trip down the cliff and that he was now on solid ground!

Tiger removed R.J.'s bag from where he'd carried it around his neck and handed it to Verne. Verne gravely took the bag and approached the place where his family was waiting under the picnic table.

Everyone looked up at him hopefully. Their faces fell into a mixture of confusion and disappointment when they saw that R.J. wasn't with the turtle and cat.

"Where's R.J.?" Heather asked, her voice shaking a little.

Verne turned his sad turtle eyes onto his family, "He's not in the cave. This was all that was up there." He held out the bag strap.

"Jeepers! It's R.J.'s bag!" Penny gasped.

Hammy walked over and examined the bag, "R.J. forgot his bag?"

"Hammy," Verne tried to break the news gently, "R.J. took his bag nearly everywhere with him."

"Yeah…" Hammy looked confused, "So?"

"So," Verne struggled, "so he probably got…I mean, he…he probably didn't want to…to go wherever we was going…that is, he didn't get a chance to get his bag because…"

Stella cut in, "Hammy, R.J. either had to leave the cave in a really big hurry, or not at all."

"What?" Hammy looked confused.

"If there's a chance he got away, maybe we should go look for him!" Lou suggested.

"If that is the case, he could be waiting at the log right now!" Ozzie exclaimed.

Heather held up the cellphone, "Remember, he's hurt!"

"But if he could still walk, he could be headed home!" argued Ozzie.

"We would have passed him on the way," Verne shook his head, "No, guys. I think we need to face the fact that it ends here. The chances aren't good that…I mean R.J. may have been able to escape from that bear before, but two? As Heather pointed out, he wasn't in the best of shape."

The animals hung their heads sadly.

Verne continued, eyes full of water and an expression of utter defeat across his face, "I think we have to admit to ourselves that our friend R.J. is gone."

"What?" Everyone stared in shock at Verne.

They stared for a moment that lasted lifetimes.

"We were just getting to know him!" Heather sniffled. Ozzie wrapped her in a comforting hug as she sobbed into his fur. He wiped a tear from his own eye. The three porcupine kids sniffed and cried in their parents' arms, while Stella and Tiger held each other. Hammy stared blankly at R.J.'s bag, trying to comprehend the situation.

"You mean…you mean he's not coming back?" Hammy asked with a wobbly voice.

This set off wails from Spike, Bucky, and Quillo. Verne placed a hand on Hammy's shoulder.

"But…but he has to!" Hammy cried.

"Hammy," Verne began, but stopped. What could he possibly say? Instead he turned to the others and exhaled, "I think it's time to go home."

Lightning flashed. Rain poured out of the sky, even harder than before. The animals ran along the road, eager to be home. Hammy, usually bouncing from one end of the group to the other, was now sullenly half-jogging at the front. The other animals followed silently.

Suddenly, Hammy stopped, causing the others to collide behind him. Wordlessly, he pointed down.

"What is it?" Verne asked. Then he saw it, too. He gulped, "Oh." He turned towards the group, gently turning Hammy around. Verne's expression was one of horror, and Hammy looked like he was in shock.

"What, Verne?" Lou asked curiously.

Verne swallowed again, "Nothing anyone needs to see." He turned so that his shell blocked the object from view as the family walked past.

As soon as everyone was past the object, Verne fell into step behind them. Hammy stopped and turned back for one last look at the dirty gray lump lying by the side of the road. He stared at it for a while, then dashed up to Verne and tugged on the turtle's arm.

"Maybe he's just sleeping!" Hammy exclaimed desperately, "Maybe we should stop and see if he needs help!"

"He doesn't need help." Verne sighed, "There's nothing we can do. He was already dead. We can't help him."

"But…" Hammy pleaded.

"No," Verne answered sadly, "That probably happened several days ago. I'm sorry you saw that, Hammy."

Hammy was quiet for a long time as they all walked through the mud in the rain. His brow was furrowed as he put the pieces together in his mind. Abruptly, he turned and asked, "Is that what happened to R.J.? Did he…get dead?"

That sent everyone into tears again. The kids howled as Lou and Penny tried to calm them.

Verne struggled to come up with a reply. He sighed again at Hammy, "That's very likely what happened."

Hammy was totally silent the rest of the walk home, only breaking the silence once to mumble "goodnight" when they reached the log. Without even eating dinner, the squirrel fell asleep snuggled next to the blue golf bag.

Stella tucked a few leaves over the sleeping Hammy for warmth and shook her head sadly.

What were they all going to do without R.J.?


	9. Chapter 8: Echoes

This may be the last chapter for a while as I sort a few personal things out in real life. Hopefully I'll be able to write more someday soon...wish me luck getting RJ and the gang out of this one! Hope you've enjoyed it so far and I look forward to lots of nice reviews (hint hint). They really do make me want to write more. Seriously. Truly.

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Chapter 8: Echoes

Verne awoke to noise. It sounded like voices, but every second, the sound changed. Sometimes it was high, sometimes it was low, and sometimes it was accompanied by music. Curious, Verne peeked out of the log. Seeing no one in the immediate vicinity, he began walking toward the sound. It led him to the place where the animals had set up a home for R.J, complete with a comfy car seat chair, entertainment center, and snacks. It now had an old tarpaulin spread over the top to protect the T.V. from rain.

The T.V.! That's what he was hearing!

Verne found Hammy sitting in the car seat, holding a universal remote and furiously flipping channels. An open but untouched Spuddies container lay on the ground nearby.

"Hammy?" Verne asked, "What are you doing out here so early?"

"I missed R.J." Hammy's gaze fell into his lap.

Verne sighed and climbed into the seat next to Hammy, "We all miss him." He put a comforting arm around the little squirrel.

Hammy pushed himself away from Verne, looking up at the turtle with watery, uncomprehending eyes, "Why couldn't we do something? Why couldn't we have helped him? He helped us…"

Verne looked at him sadly, unsure of what to say.

"And the humans…" Hammy continued, "The humans are still coming! What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Verne said under his breath, more to himself than Hammy.

"R.J. would know what to do." Hammy said quietly.

Verne gave Hammy a sad look. He was about to reply, but he paused; the picture on the T.V. screen had caught his eye. On the screen, trees were being cut down while forest creatures ran for their lives. Then the picture changed to garbage washing up on a beach. Next was a picture of buildings pouring black smoke into the air. A voice said,

"Human beings are destroying our own planet. Nature is threatened by many dangers, such as pollution and deforestation. We're here to help ensure a future for all living things…"

The picture changed to a pair of beavers building a dam while young beavers played in the water. Then it showed deer bounding through woods. Then an eagle soaring in the sky. The voice continued,

"Who are we to destroy their homes? Their environment is ours as well. If you want to be a part of protecting this world's fragile ecosystems, call the number on the screen, or send a letter to our headquarters at the address on your screen. Our volunteers will be on hand to help you make a contribution to this global effort. Because we care about all of the world's creatures."

The screen showed the address and phone number superimposed on a happy family of humans picnicking in a meadow with butterflies fluttering around them.

Verne leapt up uncharacteristically and ordered, "Hammy! Write down that address!"

Startled, Hammy dashed to the log, dug in R.J.'s bag, pulled out a crayon and piece of paper, dashed back, and wrote the address down before the screen changed to a Crown Toothpaste commercial.

"That's it!" breathed Verne.

"What's what?" Hammy asked, looking up from the address.

"That's the way we'll get rid of the humans!" Verne declared, "We'll have other humans do it for us!" He wondered when it was that his mind had started to work like R.J.'s.

Hammy looked suddenly hopeful, "Really? How?"

"The cell phone," Verne thought out loud, "We'll show them the cell phone! Then they'll see what things are really like out here and maybe they'll do something about it!"

Verne dashed out from under the tarpaulin with Hammy hot on his heels. The turtle burst into the log, startling everyone else awake. Without pausing to explain, he grabbed the golf bag and pulled the cell phone out of it. He also found a roll of scotch tape and another piece of paper.

"What are you doing, Verne?" Stella demanded, a bit annoyed at being wakened so suddenly.

Verne smiled for the first time in what felt like weeks, "I'm getting started on a plan! _We're_ going to save the forest!"

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Ozzie asked later.

The animals were standing in some shrubbery near the street entrance for the human housing development. In front of them was a sidewalk, at the edge of which was a sign reading "Metro Bus Stop".

"No," Verne admitted, "but we have to try! I mean, it's crazy enough that it should work, right?" He surveyed his doubtful-looking family and breathed out, "It's not like we're trying to save the whole world or something! At least we'll be alerting the humans that there is a problem. I don't think they'd like knowing that there are dangerous people like that," he pointed to the paper-covered bundle that contained the cellphone, "right in their backyard!"

"I don't know," Stella said skeptically, "will the humans think that these guys who wanted to hurt a few animals are dangerous to other humans?"

Verne shook his head, "You saw what they did to R.J., what's to say they wouldn't do that to a human that happened to get in their way?" He looked down at the bundle, "besides, this is all we've got." _What am I saying? This is crazy! We could all get killed! _He looked around at his family, his rational mind returning, "Anyway, I have to do this. But you don't! From what R.J. told me about the city, it'll be really dangerous…maybe you should all stay here."

"It's dangerous here, too!" Heather pointed out.

"She's right, there, Verne," Lou added, "didn't you just finish saying how bad those construction guys are back there? Between the guns, bears, and bulldozers, I think a bus ride into town sounds even a little bit safer!"

Tiger shook his head wisely, "The city is very dangerous…for all living things! Even humans."

"Well," Ozzie huffed, "That settles it! We certainly can not let Verne go alone!"

"Right!" everyone chorused.

The bus pulled up to the curb. It was even larger than Verne had expected. It towered over the shrubbery like a building on wheels, puffing out an enormous cloud of exhaust as it did so.

"It's bigger than an SUV!" Hammy exclaimed.

Verne swallowed hard, "This is it, guys."

"Let's do this!" Heather cheered encouragingly, "For R.J., and others like him!"

"For R.J." Hammy echoed. Everyone grew quiet.

The bus door opened. Feet began coming out.

"Come on guys! Let's boogie!" Hammy cried, dashing up the steps of the vehicle and disappearing inside. The others followed.

Water pricked at Verne's eyes at Hammy's use of one of the raccoon's phrases. The loss of R.J. had left a hole in the team that nothing could fill.

_I can't blame Hammy for trying. _Verne thought. As he climbed the steps, he shook his head.

_I should have kept a better eye on R.J. I should have been more careful about what I said. Maybe if I hadn't been so hard on him…I don't know. The last thing I really said to him was that he'd had us scared. I hope he didn't take that the wrong way. _

Verne walked past the oblivious driver and climbed into a seat near a window, in front of where Hammy was directing the others into seats. Verne barely noticed the tingling in his tail, or the relief that the bus was empty of human passengers (except a sleeping old lady in the back). All he could think about was the vacant spot next to him where R.J. should have been. The turtle smiled sadly, imagining that R.J. really was sitting next to him.

_How's that tail, Verne? _

_R.J., what am I doing? This is crazy! What if someone gets hurt?_

_Come on, what if an asteroid suddenly fell from the sky and hit this bus? What if the chairs all turned into food and we gorged ourselves to death? You could sit around all day coming up with "what ifs" and never get anywhere! Besides, look at them, they're all fine so far! _

_Still…I wish you were here to help us. You know so much more about this stuff than I do. _

The bus lurched forward, causing the animals to scramble to hold onto their seats. Verne's imaginary R.J. vanished nearly as quickly as the real one had. He turned to stare serenely out the window. Any casual observer would have thought the turtle was simply bored. Anyone who knew Verne would know that he was intensely sad and worried.

Verne watched the scenery go by. They passed the rows and rows of houses. They passed the rest stop and the cave. The cave and its terrible secret. Verne looked away.

He caught a glimpse of Hammy, running along the floor under the seats, stuffing things into his mouth. Peeking over his seat, he checked on the others. Ozzie was asleep and giving the old lady competition in her snoring. Heather was guarding the all-important package. Tiger and Stella were quietly discussing something. Lou had found a newspaper clipping to read, and Penny was trying to keep the kids occupied.

"Are we there yet?" Bucky asked.

"Not yet, Sweetie." Penny crooned.

"I want to drive!" Spike declared.

"Me too!" Quillo added.

Verne smiled a little at the antics of the kids. _I'm so fortunate to have a family. _

Hammy popped up next to Verne, cheeks bulging. Grinning, the squirrel spat everything out of his mouth and into his hands, "Look what I found!"

"Wow," Verne's voice took on the quality of a parent trying to sound impressed. He looked over Hammy's collection of chewing gum wads, old linty pieces of candy, bits of food, small coins, chip crumbs, paperclips, some unidentifiable metal objects, and an old watch band. "Very nice, Hammy."

"Want some?" Hammy offered him a soggy piece of popcorn.

"Um," Verne eyed the popcorn, "No thank you."

"Okay." Hammy hopped down to see if anyone else wanted to share his treasure.

Verne nearly chuckled at Heather's voice expressing disgust, Penny's motherly politeness, Lou's lack of attention to what Hammy was doing, and the kids' begging for more. Ozzie continued to snore.

Settling into his seat, Verne smiled contentedly. _R.J. may not be here, but everyone else is okay. We're all together, and we're on an insanely inspired mission to save the forest!_

He felt a slight tail-tingle.

_What am I doing? I'm actually leading this madness! I guess in a way, R.J. _is _still with us. Because I don't think the Verne I know would ever have agreed to this, much less suggested it! There must be some of him in me now. Some part of his reasoning that rubbed off in the short time I knew him._

_I do miss that guy._

Verne returned to looking out the window. For a moment, he thought he saw a small, dirty, yet familiar animal beside the road. For a moment, he thought that the other creature had looked up as the bus passed. For a moment, it seemed like a pair of sky-blue eyes had met his own.

But the bus drove on, leaving Verne with only a memory. And surely that was all it had been, anyway. Just an echo in the mind of one who grieved for a lost friend.

Verne ran a hand absently over the vinyl bus seat.

_I think he'd have been proud of us for taking on this mission, _the turtle thought, _I just hope it works out. I hope it wasn't all for nothing. _

R.J. shook his head quickly, blinking at the back of the bus as it drove off. He stopped for a moment to assess the situation.

"Okay, I know I haven't been feeling well, but now I'm seeing things!" R.J. exclaimed, "Verne on a bus? What would Verne be doing on a bus? Oh great. Now I'm talking to myself." The raccoon rubbed his head with one paw, "I guess that's what you do when there's no one else to talk to." He frowned at the bus as it disappeared from view.

_It sure looked like Verne. And I thought I saw Ozzie in the window behind him._

R.J. suddenly felt a surge of hope. Maybe it _was_ them! Maybe they were on a mission! Maybe…maybe he'd see them again!

_Verne and the others taking a bus isn't really that farfetched…not as much as say, porcupines driving a van. Or a lot of the other things we've done. But if they're taking a bus into town…there's still a lot about humans that they don't know and understand! They'll need someone to guide them. _

_That someone is me._

With a renewed sense of purpose, R.J. quickened his stride as he followed the bus. Even as he sped up, he could feel himself growing weaker. His injuries and many hours on the road out in a storm were taking their toll on his body. The raccoon coughed, trying to stop himself halfway. He couldn't allow himself to get sick; his family needed him! Imagining the dangers that the city would pose to a bunch of country animals, R.J. tried to hurry even faster down the road.

_Verne, what were you thinking?_

R.J. shook his head, wondering what had prompted the turtle to make such an irrational decision. Of course, it was possible that all R.J. had seen was a figment of his imagination. It was possible that Verne and the others were all back at the log.

Either way, R.J. was headed that direction anyway.

Half stumbling, he pushed relentlessly on, ignoring his body screaming for a rest. If it _was_ his family in the bus, he had to hurry. The city waits for no raccoon.


	10. Chapter 9: Arrival

Okay, you asked, so here it is. Thanks for the lovely reviews, keep 'em coming! Enjoy this and maybe there'll be more later...maybe...muahaha

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As the bus screeched to a halt, Verne was thrown from his place by the window. When he reached the floor, he found that he wasn't the only one affected thus. The others were also picking themselves off the dirty floor. They heard a metallic creak, then suddenly feet appeared, rushing toward them.

"Look out!" Verne cried to his friends. They all dove under the seats.

"I think this is our stop." Verne announced, "We've got to get to that door!"

"This way!" Hammy scampered along under the seats, causing a wave of surprised human sounds to roll up the bus. The animals followed him to the front of the bus and out the door, unnoticed by the hurried humans. They barely had a chance to get their bearings outside the bus before nearly being trampled by more feet.

Verne led them in a dash across a sidewalk to hide behind some garbage cans. Out of sight from the humans, they paused to catch their breath.

Holding the paper-wrapped cellphone, Verne frowned, "We need to find a way to get to Oak Street."

"We need a map," Stella nodded.

Hammy pulled something out from under one of the garbage cans and handed it to Verne, "Will this work?"

"Yes, thank you Hammy," Verne exclaimed, studying what appeared to be a map of bus routes. The others crowded around him to see it.

"There it is," Lou pointed, "Oak Street."

"So how do we get there?" asked Heather.

Tiger spoke up, "That all depends upon where we are. Which is…" He peeked around one of the cans to see a street sign that stood near the edge of the sidewalk, "53rd and Maple."

"53rd." Verne sighed, "We're a long way from Oak Street. We'd better get started walking."

A large crowd of legs and feet thundered past the garbage cans, rushing to get onto another bus that had arrived.

"On second thought," Verne gulped, "I think we should wait a while longer."

Stella shook her head, "We've got to go sometime. Look at all those people! We can't wait for them all to leave."

Verne sighed. This was turning out to be a bad idea. "We have to be very _very_ careful." He peeked around a garbage can, watching the humans. Several sat on benches; others got into the bus. The bus doors closed. The turtle slowly stepped out from behind the metal can.

_Hissss honk! _Verne leapt back to the hiding spot as the bus suddenly and noisily took off down the road. His heart was beating so hard he could feel it throbbing in his head. With a glance back at his family, Verne slumped a little in his shell.

"I'm sorry guys," the turtle shook his head, "I'm not brave like…well…not brave enough to…lead..."

The other animals stared at him.

Ozzie finally spoke, "You have been our leader for a long time."

"Yeah, and you got us here, didn't you?" Stella added.

Tiger nodded, "You took initiative, and that shows courage!"

Verne blinked. They did have a point.

Lou looked at Penny, "Well I didn't come all this way just to hide." Penny nodded and the kids cheered, "Yeah!"

"Give the word and we shall follow you into the fray," Ozzie struck a fighting pose.

"So what's it going to be, leader?" Heather crossed her arms and gave Verne a small smile.

"Um," Verne looked at all of them. His eyes narrowed. He took a deep breath and glanced back at the sidewalk. _We can do this. We _can _do this._

The turtle stood up straight, "We are going to go out there, and we are going to find Oak Street!"

"Yeah!" everyone cheered.

"But, we are going to do it carefully." Verne looked around at all of them to make sure they each understood. They all nodded agreeably.

"All right," Verne peeked out again, "Coast is clear."

Single file, the animals tiptoed out from behind the cans and down the sidewalk, trying to stay in the shadows. Tiger, holding the map, and Verne, keeping a wary eye on the surroundings, lead the way. Verne looked at all the cars driving by on the road and gulped. He fervently hoped he wasn't leading them into disaster.

R.J. winced as he crouched in the back of a station wagon. His head kept bumping the underside of the bench seat he was hiding under. The raccoon wished the people who owned the car hadn't put their picnic basket and cooler right behind the seat, blocking him in. He also hoped they were heading to the same part of town that the bus had gone to.

_At least they haven't noticed me, _R.J. comforted himself with that thought; _it was almost too good to be true when they left the trunk door open while they had lunch back at that pull off._

The smell of their leftovers was overpowering. R.J. braced himself against his scavenger instincts. They would undoubtedly hear any attempt he might have made to raid their picnic basket. He couldn't risk losing his free ride. Still, his stomach gurgled, reminding him that it had been a very long time since he had eaten anything.

The car started swerving back and forth dizzily as it reached a windy part of the road. His head spinning, R.J. flattened himself to the carpet and dug his claws into it, hanging on for dear life as everything in the car rocked from side to side.

_Please let them get to town soon, _R.J. thought queasily.

"I'm hungry!" Spike whined.

"My feet hurt!" Quillo added.

"Are we there yet?" Bucky asked for the hundredth time.

"No! So please shut _up_!" Heather cried in frustration.

Verne held up his hand, signaling a stop-and-hide. The animals ducked into a doorway.

Everyone's nerves had been wearing thin for the past mile, fueling Verne's worried thoughts. He sat down with the others and closed his eyes tiredly.

"I've been thinking," Stella sighed, "what happens when we get there? Do you really think the humans are just going to accept a paper-wrapped phone handed to them by a bunch of animals?"

Heather patted the concrete she was sitting on, "We could leave it on their doorstep."

Spike's eyes widened, "They might step on it with their _huge_ feet!"

"Crunch!" Bucky added.

"What we need," Stella said, "is a plan."

Hammy's ears perked up. He hadn't said much since the bus ride, though he was the only one who didn't seem tired. The little squirrel raised a paw, "Ooh! Ooh!"

Verne opened an eye, "Yes, Hammy?"

Hammy stopped and thought, then spoke, "We could…"

"EEEK!" a woman shouted. Groceries in brown bags flew everywhere and the animals scrambled to flee. Hammy grabbed an armful of cookies that had spilled from a box and dashed off with the others. The woman panicked to unlock the door and slammed it once she was inside. Verne and the others dashed down the street until they were sure she wasn't following.

"That was…close…" Verne puffed.

Hammy handed him a cookie.

Tiger looked from the map to a street sign, "There is good news, we are only one block away from our destination!"

"Yay!" Hammy cheered. He distributed his cookies amongst his friends and waved his in the air, dancing.

Penny shook her head, smiling, "I wish I had that kind of energy."

R.J. woke. The car had stopped moving, and everything was quiet except for the hum of traffic passing outside. He slowly slid out of his hiding spot, noting the absence of the cooler and picnic basket. To his relief, he saw that the car was empty and parked in an alleyway beside an apartment. The raccoon climbed over the seat and reached for the door handle of the car.

It was locked.

"No no no!" R.J. tried it again. He desperately felt around the door with his paws, tugging on various parts of it, trying to find the part that would unlock it. He finally kicked it in frustration and stared out the window. He glared at the brick wall that faced him.

_So close! I've got to get out of here!_

He climbed into the driver's seat and tried some of the switches. Lights, no. Mirrors, no. Horn, NO! He ducked down, hoping no one had heard it, and accidentally landed on the emergency brake.

"Oof!"

He grabbed it and picked himself off of it, feeling a button depress. The entire lever dropped under his weight. The car started moving slowly backwards.

"Uh oh!" R.J. sat up and pulled up on the brake lever, but it wouldn't budge.

"Come on, come on!" He pulled and pulled at it, but the car kept rolling. R.J. peeked over the seats and saw the sidewalk and road getting increasingly closer. Cars whizzed by on the road. R.J. plopped back into the driver's seat and glanced around desperately at everything. He reached forward and gripped the bottom of the steering wheel, but wasn't strong enough to turn it from his position below it.

He winced as the brick wall suddenly disappeared from both sides of the car and sunlight blasted him in the face. The sound of traffic blared in the raccoon's ears.

There was only one thing to do.


	11. Chapter 10: Searching

"This is it!" Verne pointed to the building. It was official-looking and very tall. The animals ducked into an empty water fountain and gazed up at the building in awe.

Verne turned to Hammy, "Now, what was that plan?"

Hammy looked blankly at Verne, "Plan?"

"Yes!" Heather cried, "The plan…that you said you had before the lady totally freaked and threw her food at us!"

Hammy looked troubled, "I…forget."

"Oh jeepers," Penny exclaimed.

"Now hold on, don't panic," Verne spoke mostly to himself, "We need to get that phone," he pointed to the package that Ozzie now held, then pointed up, "to the people in that building."

"How are we going to do that?" Quillo asked.

Everyone sat in thought.

"Maybe we should go in!" exclaimed Hammy.

The others all turned to stare at him, "What?"

"You've _got _to be kidding." Heather looked extremely doubtful, "like that's going to happen."

"Why not?" Hammy asked.

Verne blinked thoughtfully, "Yeah, why not, guys?"

"Verne, have you lost your mind?" Stella cried.

Lou shook his head, "I don't know, Verne, there are a lot of people in that place..."

"They will surely notice us." Ozzie finished.

Verne blinked, "They haven't noticed us much yet, and we've been walking around this city all day."

"People would rather ignore things that don't make sense to them," Tiger reasoned.

"Exactly!" Verne took the phone from Ozzie, "And what makes less sense than eleven animals delivering a cell phone to a building in the middle of a city?"

"Umm," Hammy started thinking.

"Hypothetical question, Hammy," Verne patted the squirrel, "But my point is, if we go in there and act casual, no one will notice, right?" He smiled confidently, but his tail tingle had gone into overdrive.

The others smiled back at him weakly, "Yeah, sounds good."

Verne stamped his foot and cried, "It's all we've got!"

Ten pairs of startled eyes blinked at the turtle's outburst. Verne looked down, surprised at himself, "Besides, if we don't do something, there'll be nothing left anyway."

"We did say we'd follow him," Ozzie admonished the group. One by one, the creatures nodded.

"Sorry, Verne."

"It's okay," Verne smiled at them again, this time encouragingly, "Guys, we can do this!" He started to climb out of the fountain, but couldn't reach and fell backwards onto his shell.

"Um, but first, a little help?"

A great commotion was happening in the street outside of an apartment complex. A fire engine, ambulance, and several police cars were on the scene. A driver still in shock tried to explain his point of view to several officers, and some witnesses gestured wildly as they explained theirs. Traffic had slowed and several police officers taped off portions of the road and tried to keep people moving past.

All because of a dented station wagon lying sideways against a building.

R.J. glanced around. The car had stopped moving, and was now at a strange angle. The windshield was cracked, and the passenger side window was completely gone. The window was gone! He was free!

R.J. grinned and unfastened the seat belt he'd snapped into place at the last moment. He stood up shakily, climbed to the window, and pulled himself out. Seeing the large dent in the side of the station wagon and a matching one in the front of a nearby sedan, he felt a lump of guilt in the pit of his stomach.

_I hope no one was hurt!_

A policeman glanced his direction and stared. The man blinked a few times and R.J. decided it was time to get out of there. He jumped off of the car, dashed to a sidewalk, and ran out of sight of the people.

The sidewalk took him further and further downtown. It became crowded with people and shopping bags. R.J. found that he could slip between the shopping bags without being noticed, as long as he kept his tail from brushing any bare legs. The one time he did, he ended up hiding in a phone booth until the crisis had passed.

Many times, he came across discarded bits of food, which was beginning to silence the gnawing feeling in his gut. R.J. stopped in a small park long enough to find a very tasty-smelling hamburger in a garbage bin. He ate it and continued on.

The buildings got taller and taller. _I wonder where I'm going?_ R.J. thought. Suddenly, his nose picked up a smell that wasn't food. It wasn't gasoline or people or any other city scent. It was animals: faintly forest-y smelling animals.

The raccoon's tired feet rapidly became rejuvenated. He sniffed in all directions, trying to find where the scent was strongest. Finally deciding on a direction, he headed off, following his nose.

As soon as the animals stepped through the glass doors into the building, Verne knew they were in trouble. Well, he had known that since they had arrived in the city, but they were now in even more trouble. Everywhere, there were people. There were doors and hallways leading into darkness. Just ahead of them, a giant table sat with several suspiciously calm people behind it and several irate and yelling people in front of it.

Some people waited near metallic doors. When the doors opened, the people walked inside into a tiny room. The doors closed. When they finally opened again, the room was empty! Verne gasped. What had he gotten his family into?

Tiger nodded to the doors, "Do not fear, my friend. That is a magic room. It will take you to many places if you know how to ask it."

"Great!" Heather cried, "How do we ask it to take us to the cell phone delivering place?"

"Well, let's go see!" Lou gestured toward it. The others began dashing across the floor. Verne reluctantly followed. His tail was positively stinging with tingles now.

The animals dashed inside just as the doors closed.

"Oh, Magic Room!" Ozzie bowed, "We wish you to take us to the cell phone place!"

Tiger shook his head, "It does not understand you. You must use the buttons."

They all gathered around the buttons Tiger pointed to.

"There's so many…which one do we press?" Verne scratched his head.

"What's that?" Hammy pointed to a sign, "Ooh, it says 'Cellular Phone'!"

"Where?" Heather demanded.

Lou read it, "Yep it says 'Cellular Phone' all right: 'Cellular Phone Services', and there's a number after it."

"There's a lot of words with numbers after them," Spike observed.

Stella snapped her fingers, "I'll bet they correspond with the numbers on the buttons!"

"Quick!" Verne turned to Lou, "What number comes after "Cellular Phone'?"

Lou looked again, "Uh, 8! It's an 8!"

"I've got it!" Hammy jumped up and pressed the 8.

Suddenly, the room shook and a sickening feeling passed through it.

"The ground is pulling on me!" Quillo whimpered.

Everyone looked green (except Verne, who was just pale) when the doors finally opened again onto a much larger room. The animals all stumbled out of the "magic" room, with Verne rolling out ahead of them. Ozzie tripped over Verne and lost his grip on the paper wrapping. The phone flew through the air and landed on a desk, right in front of three very surprised people.

"Hurry!" Verne stood up and ran to an unoccupied desk, with his family following. They all peeked out at the people that the phone had flown to.

"Well…" one of the three people, a well-dressed man, opened the package and pulled out the phone, "That's what I call a package deal!" The other two people, a man and a woman, laughed politely. The first man flipped the phone open and then handed it to the people, "Now this is just a demo model, but you can see that it has many functions, including a camera…"

"Verne," Stella whispered, "I don't think these are the right people."

Verne nodded grimly, "I think you're right, Stella. We've got to get that phone back!"

It didn't take long for them to get their chance. The three people stood and shook hands, then one of the men and the woman left. The other man picked up some paperwork and pushed his chair against the desk. He shook his head for a moment at the table, and then he walked off.

Verne turned to Hammy, "Do you think you can ge-"

Hammy dashed off to the table before Verne could finish his sentence. The squirrel scampered up the chair and grinned. Then he noticed something perplexing. He ducked under the desk on the chair and whispered loudly.

"Verne! There's two phones! And they look exactly alike!"

Verne gulped, "E…exactly?"

Hammy nodded.

"You're going to have to pick one fast!" Ozzie observed, "The man is returning!"

Hammy sighed and peeked back up at the desk. He saw the man walking back toward him and glanced between the two phones.

"Eenie meenie miny moe…"

The man came closer.

Hammy closed his eyes and grabbed one. He dropped from the chair and dashed back to where the others waited. The man looked slightly perplexed as he picked up the one phone, but he shrugged and put it in his pocket.

The animals crowded around Hammy, who held the phone out to Verne.

"How do we know if it's the right one?" Heather moaned.

Verne shook his head, "Well, it looks like ours."

Tiger peeked out of their hiding place, then pulled back in quickly, "Quick! We must return to the magic room!"

"We do?" the porcupine kids whined in unison.

Verne nodded, "Let's go, and lets hope this is our phone."

As soon as they saw the metallic doors open, the animals dashed inside. They were miraculously unnoticed by several people who had just stepped out of the room. The doors closed and they were once again faced with the problem of the buttons.

"So, which one to we press to go to the place with the people who want to help animals?" Penny asked.

Verne read over the list on the wall, "I don't know. We may have to try several."

"None of them sound right!" Stella finished reading the list.

"How about 12?" Hammy suggested.

"12?" Heather looked at him quizzically, "Why 12?"

Hammy shrugged, "It's a nice number."

Verne shook his head, "We might as well try it."

Tiger stood up on his back paws and pressed the button. The room did its sickening feeling thing again. The doors opened.

Back on level 9, a man tried to get his cell phone to work. He plugged it into a charger and waited, hoping he wouldn't miss his important call.


	12. Chapter 11: Near Miss

"I'm going after him!" Dottie declared, lumbering toward the cave entrance.

Vincent blinked open an eye, "You're doing what?"

"He's injured, and out there all alone!" Dottie worriedly stared out at the road, "He could get hit by a car, or some wild animal could get him!"

Vincent stood up grumpily and joined her at the cave entrance, "Like a bear?" He started to leave the cave.

Dottie scrambled down after him, "Now Vincent, R.J. is our guest and…"

"Not anymore he isn't." Vincent growled, "He's back to being that backstabbing little rodent and I'm going to find him teach him a lesson. And don't think you can stop me!"

Dottie scooted in front of Vincent and glared, "Don't think you can stop me from stopping you!"

Vincent pushed past her and continued on like a freight train.

"Vin-cent!" Dottie yelled, running after him.

Vincent said nothing and turned down the road. He nodded at a billboard for the housing development that he knew R.J. lived in and smiled a bitter smile.

Dottie shook her head and galloped down the road behind him.

R.J.'s nose led him deep into town. The scent was nearly as strong as it was when he was with his family, so he knew he must be getting close. The raccoon had long since forgotten to hide from the humans walking down the sidewalk. In fact, he didn't notice where he was going until he ran straight into a glass door.

"Ow!"

He rubbed his head and peered inside. Desks, chairs, people, and an elevator…but there were no animals in sight. R.J. strained and pushed the door open, sliding inside and cringing when the door slapped shut behind him. Several people looked up, and R.J. dove under a desk. He crawled along until he reached the elevator, smelling his friends the entire way.

The doors slid open, startling him momentarily. His face lit up when he caught a glimpse of Verne's shell and Stella's tail inside.

"Verne!" he called, but at that moment, a stampede of human legs appeared, headed for the elevator. R.J. had to do something fast! He dashed out in front of the people and dove under another desk. Due to the startled noises coming from the humans, he knew they'd seen him.

"What was that?"

"I think it was a cat!"

"Call 911!"

"I'm getting out of here!"

"Anyone have a cellphone?"

In the confusion, Verne had taken the opportunity to lead his family out of the elevator and under a desk across the room from R.J. As if on cue, the phone that Heather was carrying suddenly started jingling a cheery tune.

People started digging into their pockets and checking their own cell phones.

"Shut it off! Shut it off!" Verne cried.

"I'm trying but…" Heather replied, dropping the phone as everyone rushed to help her. It flew across the floor. Horrified, the animals watched as one of the humans picked it up.

"Is this anyone's?" she asked, holding it up. Finally, she opened it and said, "Hello?"

Verne motioned to them and they all dashed out the door while the humans were occupied. They hid in the fountain again to catch their breaths.

Hammy hissed, "We got the wrong phone!"

"Which means that our phone is still with that human!" Stella cried, pointing toward the elevator.

"This is a disaster!" Ozzie placed a paw to his forehead.

"What now?" Hammy asked.

Tiger nodded miserably, "We go home."

"What's left of it." Lou looked sadly at his wife and kids.

"But…" Hammy protested.

"I'm sorry guys," Verne looked down, "Tiger's right. It's too dangerous to go back, and we wouldn't be able to find the phone there even if we did. I guess we've just got to find a new place to live."

"But that's our home!" Heather exclaimed, "What right do the humans have to take it away?"

"We have no other choice." Verne looked around at the disappointed faces, "I'm sorry I dragged you all into this in the first place. We should have just stayed and used the time to search for another home."

Penny nodded thoughtfully, "I don't know about you, but I'm glad we all came out here."

"Yeah, I mean, at least we tried!" Spike nodded.

Verne smiled sadly at them.

Hammy put a paw around the turtle, "It's not your fault, Verne."

"We must carry on," Tiger peeked out of the fountain, "We will be noticed."

Suddenly a truck pulled up onto the curb and two men in white uniforms and carrying long poles jumped out and headed into the building.

"What the…?" Verne pulled himself up and read the lettering on the side of the van. Animal Control.

"Guys, let's get out of here!" He scrambled down, all of the others right behind him. Together, they raced away from the tall building, magic room, cell phones, and disappointment.

R.J. burst out of the glass door, knowing the two men were right behind him. He pumped his legs, running as hard as he could down the sidewalk, cringing at the sound of shattering glass as the two men crashed through the large windows of the skyscraper. He heard their footsteps thundering after him, drawing nearer and nearer.

"Come on R.J.!" he yelled to himself, "Keep going!"

He felt himself tiring quickly, his injured leg throbbing with each pounding step. The raccoon knew he couldn't hold out much longer. Desperately, he scanned the sidewalk for anyplace to hide.

He heard the squealing of tires and the sound of an engine growing louder. Car horns honked and he glanced behind him quickly, realizing that a third man was still inside the van and driving it hard after him.

_They must be really bored to come chasing after one raccoon. _R.J. thought briefly. The thought didn't comfort him.

_Hiding place, hiding place…_

The men were almost on top of him now, the van driving up next to him. Once again, he found himself faced with only one option.

Dodging feet, he ducked into a shop door.

To his horror, he found himself face-to-face with a disembodied raccoon tail.

"Agh!" He looked around. He was in a shop of horrors! Coonskin caps were stacked on a rack near the door. Bearskins covered the floors. Moose heads and various dead birds lined the walls. Turtle shells formed dishes containing claws and teeth. Other furs and leathery items surrounded him, and he didn't even want to know what kind of creatures they had been at one time.

The two men came in right behind him, and he had no choice but to hide. He flopped onto the floor under the hat display and curled himself up, hoping he looked somewhat dead. The men stared at the display suspiciously for a while, but moved on to ask the cashier if he'd seen a raccoon run in.

R.J. sighed in relief and waited for the door to open again so he could make his escape.

It opened.

He ran out.

People shrieked and one woman gasped to her husband, "That hat just ran out of the store!"

R.J. kept running until he knew no one was following him. The sun was beginning to set now and it was getting dark; all the better to hide in. _People can't see in the dark as well as I can._

He followed the faint smell of his friends, glad that he'd ended up going the same direction as they were headed. _I wonder what they're up to now? They got the phone to the people, so they're probably headed home. That's fine by me. In fact…_he yawned, _that's great. I just hope they know the way back!_

Not wanting to lose their trail, R.J. kept on walking. The streetlights came on, but the humans seemed to be going to bed. Even the street traffic was thinning, but that could be because he was leaving the main part of the city behind. The buildings were getting shorter. Still the animal scent faded.

_Geez, Verne can really cover ground when he wants to!_

R.J.'s eyelids drooped as he trudged down the sidewalk. His stomach was growling again and his head ached from the city noise. A dumpster he passed looked very inviting.

_No, I have to keep moving! If I lose the gang I might not be able to find them again! They could end up on the wrong bus and go who knows where! Must…keep…moving…_

Several times, he thought he spotted a tail rounding a corner ahead of him, but it always turned out to be an alley cat. By the time he reached the bus stop, he was so tired that the last few times he thought he saw his family, it was his imagination.

His ears pricked at the blue sign with the white picture of the bus on it, but drooped when he saw that the area was deserted. A newspaper blew across the street as if to dramatize his loneliness. Indeed, the smell stopped there.

Too tired to deal with it, R.J. flopped behind the garbage cans and fell into a deep sleep.


	13. Chapter 12: Setting the Trap

The animals slept as the bus rumbled on. All except for Verne, who sat near a window again, mulling over the events of the day.

_Did we really do everything we could? Was that really the best we could have done? Maybe there was something we overlooked. Maybe we did something wrong. _

_Does it really matter now? It's over. We lost. Now we have to move on. _

Verne suddenly had a horrible thought.

_R.J. died for nothing._

Tears welled up in the turtle's eyes as he thought about his missing friend.

_Sometimes it almost felt like he was there with us. It was if he was guiding us somehow, looking out for us. Maybe if he really had been there, things would have been different. I don't know. But I do know that I miss him. _

Verne sighed for the twentieth time in as many minutes and wiped at his eyes. He remembered when he thought he'd seen R.J. by the road. It seemed like years ago. He'd thought he'd seen R.J. again in the big building, right before they'd escaped from the magic room and lost the wrong phone. But it was just his memory and wishful thinking conspiring against him. No one else had seen the raccoon either time.

_And no one ever will again. Nothing will ever be the same again._

Verne leaned against the window and tried to sleep. The darkness outside matched his mood. He glanced around at his family, draped in various positions across seats.

_At least I still have them. It's a miracle that no one was hurt! Maybe R.J. really is watching over us from somewhere…_

The thought comforted him and he slept.

Vincent and Dottie waited near the log.

"They'll be here soon." Vincent said confidently.

Dottie looked doubtful, "Maybe they somehow knew we were coming."

"They didn't. They won't stay away for long. And when they return, we'll be waiting for them."

"You'll be waiting you mean." Dottie glared at him, "I'll be helping them escape!"

Vincent glared back and swiped a paw toward her, but she ducked. He fought the urge to roar angrily. They'd managed to sneak into the patch of woods undetected, but he didn't want to alert the humans to their presence and risk being shot at again.

Despite his weariness, R.J. woke several times that night from nightmares. Each time, desperate thoughts ran through his mind in time with his racing heart.

_Something's wrong. I can't explain it but I feel like they're in danger! Or they're going to be…I've got to find them!_

But each time, he fell asleep again.

It was dawn before he was awakened by the sound of the early bus pulling up to the stop. Several half-awake people piled off, clutching coffee cups and stumbling down the sidewalk. R.J. watched them through bleary eyes and suddenly leapt to his feet. He bounded inside the bus just as the doors closed.

The raccoon climbed the stairs and sat in one of the seats. He blinked and sniffed. Sure enough, it smelled unmistakably like Hammy!

_There are tons of buses around, what are the odds?_

He grinned and stared out the window with renewed hope as the bus pulled away from the stop and left the city behind.

He was going home.

Verne had to smile a little when he saw the log, still safe and welcoming in the woods. There was more sunlight coming through the trees than Verne had remembered, and that worried him. But for now, the log was safe and it was home.

Hammy immediately perked up and ran toward the log, arms outstretched to hug it. The porcupine kids all dashed to where they'd left their handheld video game, pushing each other out of the way to get there first. The rest of them followed at a slower pace, but there was definitely a feeling of relief emanating collectively from the group.

_Tingle._

Verne stopped stock-still. Now his tail wasn't making any sense. In the city it had only been a dull twitching feeling, but now that he was safely home it was in full-swing tingling mode! He shook his head and decided to ignore it, smiling at his happy family as they reacquainted themselves with the comforts of home.

Two sinister eyes watched from behind some bushes, waiting for the right moment.

R.J. stepped off the bus, saluting it as it drove off. He was feeling chipper despite the construction site he knew was waiting at home. His family would be there, too!

_Everything will be all right as long as we're all together. Heck, we could survive in the city if it came to it! But I don't want to go it alone. I miss them all too much._

He stealthily snuck from shrub to shrub toward the hedge that he knew was behind the houses. Checking to see that the coast was clear, he dashed across a lawn and into the backyard. There it was, that familiar leafy greenness! And behind it was…a bear?

R.J. blinked in shock before realizing it was Dottie.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Shhh shhh shhh!" Dottie scooped him up and covered his mouth with her paw, "I came to warn you!"

"Wrn ee?" R.J. said muffledly.

Dottie nodded, "Vincent's set up a trap. He wants to get revenge once and for all and there's nothing I can do to dissuade him!"

R.J. struggled out of her grasp, "Wow wow wow, hold on. Vincent's here?"

Dottie nodded again, sadly.

"And he's set a trap?"

"That's what he said."

R.J. looked down in thought and asked slowly, "What _kind_ of trap?"

Dottie gave him an even sadder look than before, "I think it involves your friends."

"I'm sure it does," R.J. sighed, nodding determinedly, "Well then we'll just have to outwit him."

Dottie smiled hopefully, "How?"

"Ah…" R.J.'s bravado deflated. "I have no idea!" he cried, "But there's got to be a way out of this. Think R.J., think." The raccoon closed his eyes and thought hard, but his tired brain was in no shape to bring any ideas it might have had to the surface.

Finally he opened his eyes and nodded, "We give him what he wants. Me."

Dottie gasped, "No! There's no telling what he'd do to you!"

A sad smile almost formed on R.J.'s face but he dropped it, "Whatever it is would be better than seeing my family hurt."

"So brave," Dottie sniffed, "So strong." She hugged R.J. dramatically and sobbed, "TOO YOUNG TO DI-I-IE!"

R.J. rolled his eyes and struggled out of her grasp again, "Dottie, please, get a grip, will you? I'm going to need your help to make this convincing!"

Dottie wiped her eyes and blinked, "Convincing?"

Now R.J. did smile, a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes.


	14. Chapter 13: Wrath and Betrayal

After R.J. was finished explaining the plan, Dottie gave him a skeptical look, "What if it doesn't work?"

R.J. stared up at her with determination in his clear blue eyes, "It has to. And if it doesn't…" He stared off into the woods briefly and recovered, "If it doesn't, at least we tried."

Dottie sighed, "For the record, I really don't like this situation. This really screws up my…I mean…you could get hurt!"

"Come on, we need to move now before he gets impatient!" R.J. took off through the forest.

The bear glared at his striped tail disappearing through the underbrush, but she followed him.

Back at the log, Vincent had set his trap.

"R.J.?" Vincent called. He glared at the bushes, "R.J., I've got your friends. Come on out and they won't get hurt."

"Dottie! There you are! Just in time." Vincent looked up from the log he was sitting on.

R.J., hiding in some shrubs, winced when he realized that the open end of the log had been blocked with a small boulder. He could almost feel the fear of his friends trapped inside.

Dottie sidled up to Vincent, "Vinnie, I've actually come to apologize. You were right about R.J."

Vincent's eyes opened wider, "I…was?"

The female bear nodded, her own eyes round and placid, "I'm sorry I doubted you." She nuzzled him; "I want to take my rightful place by your side. Together we will stop the little menace!"

R.J. watched with admiration. _She's good. Very convincing!_ he thought.

The two bears gazed at each other. Suddenly, Vincent stood up.

"Why should I believe you?" he demanded, "For all I know, you're in league with him!"

Dottie got a treacherous gleam in her eye as she responded, "Because, my sweet, I have a little gift for you, and he's hiding right over there!" She pointed right at R.J.

Vincent slowly walked to the raccoon's hiding place, sniffing cautiously. Catching the scent, he bounded toward it, eyes blazing now.

R.J. gasped and took off running, not pausing to look back. He could hear the heavy breathing of the bear, feel the breath warming his tail every few seconds. He didn't even know where he was running, just that he had to get away. He had to lead Vincent away from the log and Dottie, who would be setting his friends free right about now.

Thinking of them gave R.J. a fresh burst of energy. This had to work. It had to.

Huff huff huff. Vincent was right behind him. The bear snapped and caught the tip of R.J.'s tail in his sharp teeth, yanking out hair. "An eye for an eye and fur for fur!" Vincent howled.

R.J. winced at the pain but kept running. He couldn't slow down or there'd be more than fur in Vincent's mouth. The world was bear breath and bushes whacking him in the face.

BANG!

Vincent and R.J. stopped in their tracks. In front of them stood a grungy man with a rifle. Behind him stood a dozen more grungy men with rifles.

"Cliff…" R.J. breathed, his eyes full of terror.

They'd run directly into the human camp.

Vincent recovered from the shock quicker than R.J. He'd already worked up a rage and did not appreciate being shot at. He leapt over R.J. and tackled Cliff to the ground.

"Vincent no!" R.J. yelled.

The other men pointed their guns at the bear.

Cliff was whacking Vincent with his own gun.

R.J. saw only one thing to do to keep any of them from getting killed. He dashed forward, climbing up Vincent's back. He straddled the bear's neck, narrowly avoiding getting beaten by the gun, himself.

R.J. pulled on Vincent's ears as hard as he could, "Vincent, this is not the way!"

Vincent shook his head, but R.J. clung tightly. The bear reared up on his hind legs, trying to shake off the raccoon. The air around them suddenly exploded with gunshots.

As if in slow motion, Vincent fell backwards, landing hard. He groaned in pain, but stood back up. Then he realized that R.J. was no longer on his head. He turned around to see the raccoon lying unconscious on the ground where he'd been landed on by a bear.

Vincent felt a sore area on his side with a paw. He glared at the men, who were reloading. They looked up. Vincent advanced. And fell again as a helicopter suddenly appeared over the trees. It landed in the clearing, several men with tranquilizer guns getting out and heading toward Vincent. The bear tried to move, but found himself being loaded into a large cage.

Dottie arrived just in time to see Vincent being carted off to a truck waiting on the street. She waved solemnly from the safety of the woods. Vincent saw her and growled.

Cliff and his workers looked on smugly as the bear was taken away. That is, until a bunch of police officers burst out of the woods with their guns drawn.

"Drop your weapons! Cliff Garley you are under arrest! You are surrounded!"

Reluctantly, the men dropped their rifles and put their hands in the air.

Dottie smiled, and then looked around. Where was R.J.? As soon as the humans had vacated the area, she walked out of the woods, sniffing around. She caught sight of the crumpled furry form and rushed to him.

"Oh R.J., poor brave dear little R.J.!" she wailed, "Why did it have to be you? Why? Oh if only I'd gotten here sooner…"

"So you could be captured and taken away by the humans?"

Dottie blinked and looked down.

R.J. looked back at her.

"YOU"RE ALIVE!!!" Dottie yelled with joy, leaning down, intending to scoop him up into a bear hug.

"Ack! Nonono!" R.J. held out his paws in protest, "Not this time, Dottie!" He sat up stiffly and rubbed his head, " 'poor brave dear little R.J.' has a headache." He looked around, "Where's everyone else?"

Dottie sniffed and wiped tears of happiness, "They're all back at the log. I let them out, but I heard the gunshots and…I had to come. I was worried about you and Vincent, heaven help him."

R.J. placed a comforting paw on hers, "He'll be okay."

"Do you really think so?" Dottie blinked, "I mean, he's rough around the edges…but I do…well…you know…miss him."

R.J. smiled at her, "Don't worry, Dottie. He has a way of surviving."

Dottie nodded, looking far away for a moment, then back at R.J., "Come on, let's get you home."

"I'll bet the others are anxious to see me!" R.J. grinned.

"Actually…" Dottie gave him an embarrassed smile, "I didn't get the chance to tell them you were here."

"Well let's get moving then," R.J. stood up, wincing at his bruises, and absently rubbed his tail. He started walking back to the log, ironically with a bear right behind him.

_Life is a funny thing. _R.J. smiled, _Just when you think it's the end of the world, you get an opportunity to make a difference, and things just seem to work out. _

He glanced back at his bear friend and shook his head in amazement.

_Who would have ever thought they'd work out like this?_

Dottie glanced at him curiously, but he just smiled and winked at her and quickened his stride. It was time to go home, once again.


	15. Chapter 14: Coming Home

Verne breathed a sigh of relief. The bears were gone and his family was out of the log. Around him, they sat in rare silence, each of them wondering what was going to happen next. They heard the sound of gunfire as the humans no doubt met up with the two bears. Despite his fear, Verne hoped nothing had happened to them.

"What now?" Lou broke the silence.

Suddenly there was a roaring sound from the sky. What appeared to be a monstrous dragonfly buzzed overhead, its wings whirling.

Everyone dove back into the log.

Verne felt the shaking of Hammy next to him and put his arm around the squirrel. He heard a sniff and realized that Hammy wasn't frightened, but sad.

"It's all wrong." Heather moaned, "We're not supposed to be hiding in our own house. They're not supposed to be knocking down our forest. And…" She stopped sadly and crossed her arms angrily at the world, "Well he's supposed to be here with us!"

Verne nodded, "I know. I know. Sometimes, it's almost as if I can hear his voice in my head." The turtle half smiled in thought, "Usually telling me to do something crazy."

Ozzie nodded sagely, "As long as we keep him in our memories and our hearts, he will never truly be gone."

Spike sniffled, "Memories can't play video games with us."

"He wouldn't want us to be sad and moping our lives away," Penny remarked comfortingly and reproachfully in a way that only a mother can, "And we need to find a new place to live before those humans destroy what's left."

Hammy hugged the side of the log, "I don't wanna leave!"

"Neither do I," Verne sighed, "but we don't have a choice. And this place is just a reminder…" he trailed off, aware that his thoughts were unintentionally coming out his mouth.

Stella's ears pricked up, "Verne, you know that voice in your head?"

Verne nodded.

"I can hear it." Stella finished.

R.J. was tired. Really tired. And sore. He felt like a bear had landed on top of him. But when he caught site of the log, he broke into a run.

"Verne!" he called, "Hammy! Stella!"

He nearly tripped but recovered, "Tiger! Heather! Ozzie! Penny! Lou! Spike! Bucky! Quillo!"

There was still no movement from the log.

"Guys?"

R.J. reached the clearing and looked around, puzzled. Dottie arrived behind him.

"I was sure I left them right here!" she exclaimed.

Frowning, R.J. walked to the log and peeked in, "Hello?"

"R.J.!"

R.J. was suddenly bowled over by flying spike balls, all three chorusing their joy at his being alive.

"Agh! Whoah, there!" the raccoon tried to very carefully hug them and stand up and brush himself off at the same time. He looked back toward the log and saw the rest of his family emerging, shock and disbelief written all over their faces.

The porcupine triplets all were trying to talk at the same time, squeezing him tightly.

"Heyhey, guys, Uncle R.J. needs a break, okay?" he smiled at them, gritting his teeth at his sore body.

They all noticed his discomfort and immediately let go.

"I'm sorry Uncle R.J.! Sorry! Are you hurt?"

R.J. patted their heads and walked to where the others were standing. _Well this is awkward. They're looking at me like I'm a ghost. Oh no…they…thought I was dead, didn't they? All that time._

He gave them a worried look and then tried to smile at them, "Oh, come on, you didn't really think you were rid of me yet, did you?"

Hammy burst out of the group and clung to R.J.'s waist. Again, the raccoon winced, but he hugged Hammy back anyway.

"I missed you so much R.J.!" Hammy cried. Then he looked up with a grin and a bounce, "Wait right here, don't go away!" He dashed back into the log and out within the space of a second. Gleefully, the squirrel pushed the familiar blue golf bag to R.J.'s feet.

"My bag!" R.J. grinned, "You did a good job of keeping it safe for me, Hammy, thanks."

Hammy giggled and twitched his tail.

"Is it really you?" Heather approached him. The others followed her, closing in around him.

R.J. looked at himself, suddenly aware of his bedraggled appearance. He was thin, dirty, beat up, and the tip of his once-fluffy tail was bald. He laughed, "I think so!"

The others started laughing with him, hugging him in relief and joy that their favorite raccoon was safe.

"Oof," R.J. whispered, trying not to protest. He hugged them back fondly, noticing that Verne wasn't among them. As they all pulled back, R.J. stepped out of the circle and walked toward the turtle, standing alone next to the log in silence.

R.J. smiled at his friend, "Hey, how've you been?"

Verne blinked, "Are you KIDDING? Ever since you left, things have gone from bad to worse! We thought you were _gone_, R.J.! We thought you were _dead_! And now you just come waltzing back in here like…like…like…" the turtle ran out of words and started over, "R.J. don't you ever even think of going off again and…DYING! Or whatever it is you were doing!"

R.J. chuckled, "Believe me, Verne, I'm not in any hurry to repeat _that_ experience."

Verne calmed down and sighed, smiling at R.J., "It's good to have you home."

"Good to be here," R.J. glanced happily around the place he'd been dreaming about for what felt like months. He was back at the log, surrounded by the only true friends he'd ever known, and Vincent wouldn't endanger them again. Even Dottie had retreated into the woods to leave them all in peace. He saw her nod at him and turn to go.

R.J. held up his paw, "Can you guys just hang on, one second." He dashed up to the bear.

"Dottie, I never got the chance to thank you." R.J. puffed. He really needed to rest after all that dashing around.

Dottie smiled down at him, then looked sad, "You don't owe me anything. Not after all I took away from you."

R.J. cocked his head a little, "What do you mean?"

Ashamed, Dottie looked at the ground, "It was a long time ago. A very long time ago. I was a lot like Vincent is now." She took a deep breath, "it was rainy and miserable. I was hungry. If it hadn't been for that truck…well it all happened so fast."

"What happened?" R.J. asked.

Dottie sat down, but couldn't look R.J. in the eye, "I was angry, they always got the best food and I was left with nothing. Quite frankly, they were smarter than I am." The side of her mouth tipped up in a slight ironic smile, then dropped, "jealousy makes you do horrible things sometimes. Horrible things. Like trapping your enemies…and then…watching them die." She glanced at R.J. and choked up.

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to," R.J. told her.

Dottie nodded, "But I need to tell you. All these years I've not told anyone. I've just carried it around like a burden, and then seeing you…" She took a deep breath, "I got a hold of a box of pizza, and I knew it was too big of a score to pass up. So I set it across a busy roadway."

R.J.'s mind flashed images at him as he listened. _Two small furry things were sitting there, eating a soggy pizza that was lying across the center line._

"I knew there was a truck coming, so I sat in the bushes and waited. Only…once I saw it headed for them, I changed my mind and rushed to warn them. But it…it was too late…"

_Something huge hurtled out of the bushes and galloped toward the small furry things. A truck…with lettering on the side that he couldn't make out…rain, food, fur, tires, yelling, wet…_

Dottie wiped her eyes, "I'm so sorry R.J.! I didn't know…I didn't know they had a baby watching from the park. I didn't realize what I was doing! And then, I just left that poor little orphan out there in the cold."

R.J. blinked.

Dottie finally looked him straight in the eye, "I killed your family, R.J. I'm the reason you grew up alone."

"Wow," R.J. stared straight ahead, then glanced back toward the log, "Dottie, they were my parents. But over there is my family now. And you helped them." He nodded to her, "And you helped me."

Dottie sighed, "It was the least I could do."

R.J. patted her paw, "You going to be okay?"

The bear nodded and smiled, wiping at her eyes, "Yeah. I think so." She shooed him with her paw, "Go on home now!"

Grinning, R.J. did so.


	16. Chapter 15: Epilogue

The animals sat around the T.V., R.J. in the place of honor, right in the middle of them all. He offered some popcorn to Stella, changing the channel with his remote. He grinned, "Ah, here it is!"

On the screen, a reporter stood in a suburban neighborhood. Behind her was a green hedge, and beyond that was a forest. The reporter smiled at the camera and spoke into the microphone, "The events that occurred here just hours ago have led many officials to question the destruction of a suburban park. A bear reportedly attacked one of the workmen in charge of demolishing the woods behind me. However, amateur footage recovered from an anonymous cell phone, have changed the scope of the story."

R.J. winced at the big-screen version of himself dashing across the human camp and getting shot.

Hammy hugged him and then remembered that his friend was still sore, "Sorry!"

"Shhh!" Heather hissed.

The reporter continued, "It seems the animals were provoked into action. Can this be some kind of organized protest? Who knows! But the workmen have been arrested on criminal charges, and this neighborhood is once again safe, thanks to a bear. The bear was shot, but has been taken to an animal hospital, where upon his recovery he will be released into a much larger habitat. It has been decided that the destructed portion of the forest behind me will be replanted and the entire area will be made into a protected green space. The neighborhood association has decided that they like the greenery. Back to you, Greg."

The screen changed to a man predicting rain for the next three days, but the animals were too busy cheering to notice.

"We get to stay!" Hammy bounced into the air

"We get to keep our home!"

Everyone hugged each other and threw popcorn in the air.

"Thanks to a bear?" Lou shook his head, "We all know it was R.J. who saved the day!"

"Hear hear!" Ozzie raised his soda can.

R.J. grinned, "Come on, I wasn't the one who delivered the cell phone."

"Tell us again how you escaped from that car!" Spike begged.

"No no!" Bucky pleaded, "Tell us about when you saw us at that big building!"

Quillo bounced, "I want to hear about when you rode the bear!"

R.J. blinked, "You guys know the stories better than I do by now," he stifled a yawn.

Verne took the remote from the tired raccoon's paw and flipped off the TV, "Come on, guys, let's let him rest. We all need our sleep, too."

"Oh, kay." The triplets looked disappointed, "Night Uncle R.J."

"Night kids."

"Goodnight R.J."

"Goodnight Verne."

"Night R.J.!"

"Sleep tight, Hammy."

"Sweet dreams, there."

"Night Penny, Lou."

"Goodnight!"

"Night Heather, night Ozzie."

"Night everyone!"

"Goodnight Stella, night Tiger! Sleep well."

R.J. curled up in his chair, glancing around him one more time at all the sleeping creatures around him. His family. He smiled and drifted off into a sleep free of nightmares.

At last, he was home.


End file.
